William Manriquez: Working Toward Caring for the Community’s Health

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Community can play a large role shaping who a person can become.

For William Manriquez, who was born and raised in the bustling and vibrant borough of Manhattan in New York, he was deeply inspired by his community.

In Manhattan, there is far more than just the fast-paced hum of people from backgrounds from around the world. You’ll find people walking their dogs, bicycling through Central Park, shopping in the corner bodegas, and sharing conversations with neighbors.

“I was fortunate enough to grow up in a neighborhood where there was a sense of community,” Manriquez said.

Now, as a second-year medical student at the CUNY School of Medicine at The City College of New York, Manriquez hopes he can one day provide well-rounded health care and infection prevention and control for people of all backgrounds, like many in his community.

Finding Inspiration in Medicine

As Manriquez works to further his education, he credits teachers and other mentors throughout his life to sparking his passion for the medical field.

“I don’t think there was ever [one] person or [one] event, per say. It’s more like the culmination of all the people I’ve met throughout my life. Not all of them have been in the career of medicine. There’s a lot of people I take inspiration from that pursued other things,” Manriquez said.

Manriquez also enjoys digging deeper when it comes to medicine.

“I like to get into the nitty gritty of things and just figure out why and how [medical problems and conditions] happens, and what we can do about it,” Manriquez said.

With this in mind, William is focusing his education on internal medicine, which covers a variety of adult diseases from cardiology to infectious disease and cancer.

Overcoming Challenges in Pursuing Medicine

A journey through medical school is rarely easy.

For, Manriquez imposter syndrome and comparing himself to others can be a challenge for him, as well as many other students.

“I think at the end of the day, the way I see it is the pace I set for myself is the only pace I have to listen to,” Manriquez said. “If I’m copying the flow of somebody else and doing all the things that they do, then that’s not me. That’s not my development as a medical student, and I want to follow my own path and do what I want to do.”

Manriquez also highlighted the challenges of entering a new environment like medical school.

“If you’re going to be put into a scenario where you don’t know what the people around you are like, do the best you can to learn from them,” Manriquez said.

With the many responsibilities that come with medical school, it’s also important to prioritize self-care.

Manriquez enjoys playing music and uses hobbies like gaming and taekwondo to de-stress.

“I’m in a group with a couple of other students at my school, and we all we’re an ensemble, so we perform music together,” according to Manriquez.

The Importance of Infection Control Education

Infection control and prevention practices are crucial to understand and implement because they can keep people from getting sick.

That’s important for healthcare workers – and students who are studying medicine.

“I think that’s where empathy comes into the public health aspect of [infection prevention and control], because you have to think about not just yourself, but also what the other people around you are doing for their own protection,” Manriquez said.

Clean hands, clean surfaces, and personal protective equipment are essential to the provision of safe healthcare.

“You want to wear protective equipment because you don’t want to get sick, right? What if you’re treating a patient that has the flu and to either two things happen, you’re not vaccinated, or maybe you’re just not wearing the right protective equipment around them, you get sick,” Manriquez said.

Promoting Infection Control in Your Healthcare Setting

Where can healthcare workers and aspiring medical professionals find educational tools and resources on infection control and prevention?

You can help keep yourself, your colleagues, and your patients safe from infectious disease threats by building your infection control knowledge!

To show your dedication, sign this pledge to complete an infection control training or activity through CDC’s Project Firstline!

You can also share infection control training opportunities with healthcare colleagues via LinkedIn with our Project Firstline social media toolkit.

You can access more information about infection prevention and control in healthcare by visiting resources from CDC Project Firstline.

Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio is working with the National Hispanic Medical Association to bring Project Firstline infection control educational content to healthcare workers, so they are equipped with the knowledge they need to protect themselves, their facilities, and their patients (Latinos and all communities) from infectious disease threats in healthcare settings.

Check out some of the articles from this partnership:

• What is Project Firstline?
• What is the Goal of Infection Prevention and Control in Healthcare Settings?
• What’s a Virus?
• What is Ventilation and Why Does It Matter?
• Contact Time: What is It and How Does it Impact Infection Control?
• The Surprising Difference Between Cleaning and Disinfection
• What’s a Respiratory Droplet and Why Does It Matter?
• Mpox: Preventing the Spread in Healthcare
• Measles: Preventing the Spread in Healthcare

Check out some of the Latino healthcare workers who are heroes for infection control:

• Anna Valdez: Tackling Infection Control with Education from Classroom to Clinic
• Wanda Montalvo: Preventing Infections in Community Health Centers, Latino Communities
• Ricardo Correa: Endocrinologist and Infection Control Leader for the Latino Community
• Jorge Moreno: Infection Control Hero for Spanish-Speaking Latinos and All Patients
• Veronica Ramirez: Keeping Her Community Health with Infection Control
• Juanita Mora: A Voice for the Latino Community and Infection Control
• Carlos Salama: Protecting Latinos Against Infectious Diseases

LEARN MORE ABOUT PROJECT FIRSTLINE!

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a collaboration between Salud America!, the National Hispanic Medical Association, and the CDC’s Project Firstline. To find resources training materials, and other tools to bolster knowledge and practice of infection control, visit Project Firstline and view Salud America!’s infection control content.