Melanie Cole (Host): MIT Health's Primary Care Providers include Physicians and Nurse Practitioners. There are Pediatricians for children, specialists in Internal Medicine and Family Practice for adults and specialists in Adolescent Medicine and Family Practice for young adults.

But how do you know which of our many providers is best for you? Welcome to Conversations With MIT Health. I'm Melanie Cole and today on our provider profile, we're speaking with Dr. Israel Molina. He's a Primary Care Provider and Family Physician at MIT Health. Dr. Molina, it's a pleasure to have you join us today.

I want you to start for the listeners because we're here today to learn about you. Tell us a little bit about your career path before becoming a Family Physician and Primary Care Provider at MIT Health.

Israel Molina, M.D. (Guest): I guess as a younger person, I knew that I wanted to be a physician, in discussions with my mother when I was younger. You know, we talked about, what kinds of things I was interested in. And I told her I wanted to help people. And she told me, well, there's lots of ways to do that.

And thinking about that in a very basic way, not very mature way, I had sort of centered on medicine because it seemed to be doing good work and kind of necessarily with the biblical sense, and combined being intellectually curious, and studying things that I was already interested in.

And so, part of that path brought me into a program during summertime called Phillips Academy. They have a program called MS Squared. And one of those people who interviewed me took an interest in me. And, really, I think sort of set me on the path to having a successful application to college.

And then another person who really helped direct me into the right direction, was David Berry, who is a former MIT student and alum who was teaching at my school. And, I was going through a lot of science courses. I was doing this summer program and I was doing really, really well in those.

And then you asked me what schools I was applying to. And, the schools I was applying to were a lot of liberal arts schools. And he said, hey, why don't you apply to MIT? And I told him, I didn't really want to go out to Michigan. I wanted to stay local and I'm from Chelsea, Massachusetts. And he just looked at me and realized I wasn't joking and said, you're dumb, apply to MIT.

You'll be a great fit there. And I applied to MIT and got in and I was very fortunate. Someone again, took an interest in something that I wrote in my application and while I was there, I was constantly testing my desire to be in medicine. I did science, I did research and realized I didn't really want to be doing pure science research.

I still wanted to do medicine. I joined MIT EMS, and that helped emphasize, that I really did want to do medicine. And I liked my experiences working in the ambulance and then after MIT did a number of years of neuroimaging research and so sort of adjacent to medicine, doing clinical research. And then again, just realizing that I wanted to be more and more involved in patients.

And then finally was able to enter into medical school at UMass Med. From there I thought I was going to be a radiologist. But it was really hard to stay awake in their rooms. You know, you're sitting in front of this very big computer in a very dark room and we're all always like over tired, in medical school.

And so, it didn't seem like a good work environment. If I was always going to be tired and always falling asleep on the job, then I switched gears and, when I was doing a rotation out in Lawrence, Massachusetts, really got into Primary Care and being able to talk with lots of different people from different areas of the country and in the city, talking to staff with different levels of education, different kinds of interest.

And so that was really exciting. I didn't fall asleep. And so stuck with that. And ended up, at Cambridge Health Alliance, doing my Family Medicine Residency there and there, they were really great, they, gave me the opportunities to do lots of procedures. Do lots of deliveries, do lots of hospital work, and really sort of staying broad within family medicine.

So, taking care of, as you mentioned earlier, well, I guess the phrase that are like womb to tomb or, cradle to grave and really sort of immersing myself in that. And then that's sort of how I got into medicine. I did work for Cambridge Health Alliance for a year, and then I shifted over to MIT Health, where I am currently as a Family Medicine Physician.

Host: So as you're telling us what you're going to primarily specialize in Dr. Molina, how do you think your background, I love your story and I love how you got there. How do you think your background and experience can be used to benefit this very unique community?

Dr. Molina: I think there are a few ways in which I had to reflect upon in applying to MIT Health, to become a physician where I think I could be useful to the community. And one way, my background. I'm Latino and I grew up in a Spanish speaking family. And so there are a lot of people from immigrant communities, a lot of people from places around the world who are coming here for the first time by themselves.

And although I may not have the same cultural experiences as many of those individuals, I do have a lot of experience with family and friends who have moved from other countries, have come to the US and are sort of, trying to struggle to adapt to the culture. In addition, I think my experience as a student at MIT is somewhat useful.

I remember my experience, as a student at MIT with Primary Care, there weren't too many places that I interacted with MIT Health as a student. And I think that, that does demonstrate and probably true for many universities that undergrads, don't always access the care at their local institutions.

And so trying to do some outreach and trying to connect with students and demonstrating that these are useful services for them. And in another way, my experience at MIT, also being from one of these immigrant communities and coming in, I hope to connect with many of the undergraduate students who have had a similar background.

Host: Well, I think you will, I can hear your passion. You've got energy, the youth, and that's what's going to bring these kinds of students to you. I can just see that. So, tell us a little bit, when they do come to you, what's your philosophy of care, Dr. Molina? What do you want patients to know about how you approach disease, wellness, and even care for the whole person?

Dr. Molina: In terms of the approach often, when I meet someone at MIT Health, who's new to the system, I do talk about the services that are available and trying to let, just let them know, what does, having MIT Health there mean for them in terms of their care with the number of services that we provide at MIT Health, it's a lot larger than people really imagine.

And then also trying to differentiate the differences between, when do you go to urgent care, when you go to primary care? When I talk to new patients I do try to emphasize, the role of primary care in their experience at MIT. Someone told me once that the goal of MIT Health is to keep everybody working as best as they can. And I'm paraphrasing because their, their comments were a lot better than mine, but keep everybody in the labs, in their classes, in their work. And you're doing your job and fulfilling that role at MIT Health.

And so I really am trying to take that to heart. Often, patients will come in and they'll have a problem in their first visit. And I really try to slow it down and say, look, you know, for me to really get a good understanding of you as a person, and as a individual where you are, what are your possible areas where you could improve in your health even if you are thinking you're doing everything that's right for you; I have to sit down and talk with you for a little bit and sort of get an understanding of where you are in your life. What kind of support services do you have in place or support individuals in your life and how can we leverage those things to improve your health overall? And then I do let patients know that I often have a health bias. Most people that I meet, within Primary Care, I think this is true. When you look at the models of care, most people are going to be okay. Most of our studies and our patient experience has come from 1% of and those people present to hospitals and that's where a lot of our data comes from.

But in Primary Care, we're working with that 99% where people are not presenting to care and some people are presenting to care, but not ill enough to appear in the hospital. And that's a whole other field. And so often patients come in, as they're maturing, as they're developing, as they're changing in their lives.

And some changes are concerning. Some symptoms are very concerning. But I let patients know that, if we can figure out the reason why, then that's great, but many of these things are often transient. We need to give them time to either develop and let us know that this is something that, does need more aggressive workup. And some patients I think, respond well to that. Some patients have a different experience and different expectations and they don't do well with that kind of advice and that's okay. Everybody needs to be able to be treated that's the best for them. But that's, I think in a way how I approach a lot of my care.

Host: So now my favorite question, Dr. Molina, what do you do for fun? Tell us a little bit about your family and life outside of work. What are some things patients may not know about you?

Dr. Molina: Outside of the family, I think I kind of wrote this as well in my bio page. Like I mentioned to you earlier, I'm involved with my kids. We recently had her Quinceanera, and that was a big event. And now that that's kind of over, it's kind of returning to some of the activities that we were not doing as much of sort of getting outside, often taking the dog on to some trails in the area to get him out and getting him some exercise, doing a lot more cardio because that's sort of got out of the wayside.

Most of my other activities do include some kind of exercise, whether it's cardio or liftin or trying to do some, HIT, but outside of that, because my children are still young and in the home, and this is one of the few opportunities I've had to really spend some good time with them. I'm often, just with them either taking them out to go watch the movies or going to my daughter's volleyball game or, just trying to be active in their lives. I think they find it incredibly annoying. But I find it pretty fulfilling.

Host: Oh, there's so much going on and it's, you know, it's a busy time and your kids are of that age. So, it's just wonderful to hear about how you're really balancing all of that. So, as we wrap up, I just would like you to tell the listeners what you love about working at MIT Health.

Dr. Molina: I think I love the conversations and the people that I meet at MIT. I get to meet faculty, I get to meet staff. I get to meet students. And so the range of interests, the kinds of research that people are doing, it's always just a reminder of all the great work that's being done at MIT. And when I speak with staff who are helping MIT just run and I think this past year or two with COVID has really demonstrated how important those staff are. It's just really been a pleasure to hear everybody's story and their perspectives, and what's been going on and their love of MIT really does come out, both in faculty and staff and some students, you know, it's hard for them in the moment to realize how much they love the place, but everybody's endearing sentiments about MIT really make it a great place to work.

And I love being at MIT Health where they just revamped the area. And I remember what it looked like before, and I can see what it looks like now. And it's just such a great open area to see. And it gives us a lot of hope that in the future, we're going to be able to spend a lot more time together, in the outside area and indoors. So, I guess that's, what I love about MIT. Oh, and the coffee. The coffee is fantastic everywhere.

Host: That's awesome. Thank you so much, Dr. Molina, what a delight you are. And thank you so much for sharing a little bit about yourself with the listeners today, and to make an appointment with Dr. Molina. Listeners can visit Health.mit.edu for more information and to get connected to one of our providers. That concludes this episode of Conversations with MIT Health. Please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all the other MIT Health podcasts. . I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for joining us today.