SAN ANTONIO – Making the journey as a political refugee from Cuba to the U.S. is what Dr. Carlos Rosende credits as the start of his career in medicine.
“One day, we got all our stuff, went to the airport and I thought we were just going to Havana to visit my other grandparents," Rosende, with UT Health San Antonio, said. "Instead, we got on an airplane and landed in Miami. We got off the plane, and applied for political asylum. I’m officially a political exile.”
Rosende, a U.S. Navy veteran, recalled the exposure and expansion opportunities the military provided.
“The training that I got in the Navy exposed me to (learn about) illnesses and people from all over the world," he said. "I was very fortunate that when I retired from the Navy, I was able to find another position that allowed me to take care of more than one patient at a time.”
Rosende said that UT Health’s vast reach is a humbling experience.
“At a medical center like UT Health, I was able to teach and influence patients I would never meet," he said. "I was able to contribute to research, taking care of generations of patients that I would never see.”
Rosende said the best way to learn something is to teach it to others, furthering their ability to teach and expanding their reach.
“My mission is to make sure that the physician practice at UT Health is able to reach as many patients as possible, and be able to share that knowledge with other physicians," he said.
To learn more about UT Health San Antonio, and all their teaching professionals, visit: www.UTHealthPhysicians.org.