Contact: Will Sansom
Phone: 210-567-2579
E-mail: sansom@uthscsa.edu

Dora Martinez is congratulated by her mother, Dr. Adela Valdez, and grandmother, Eloisa Garcia, after receiving her medical degree from the Health Science Center.
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Adela Valdez, M.D., was born and raised in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Growing up, the only jobs she could find were in the field picking cotton, tomatoes and other crops. She never thought she would become a doctor. Her goal was to get married and have lots of children, to be, as she says, in home economics.

She had an exceedingly traditional upbringing. Her mother, Eloisa Garcia, was married at a very young age, had five children including Adela, and was widowed at age 28. Eloisa ended up obtaining her GED through night classes.

Encouraged by teachers
Adela graduated from high school in the early 1970s. With the encouragement of teachers who saw her giftedness, she broached the subject of going to college. At first, the family objected. Gradually her mother and other members softened their stance, and Adela was allowed to leave Harlingen for college.

After a year at The University of Texas at Austin, she transferred to The University of Houston. She took anatomy and physiology classes and fell in love with those subjects. Ultimately she went to medical school.

Adela received her Bachelor of Science in biology in 1976 at UH and her M.D. degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1980. She loved medical school and knew a career as a physician was what she was meant to do.

Returned home to practice medicine
She returned to the Valley in the early 1980s to begin a practice in Harlingen. She was married to Dr. Ruben Martinez, a Harlingen ob-gyn physician (they are now divorced). After Leonel Vela, M.D., was hired as regional dean of the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) in 2000, he appointed Dr. Valdez assistant dean of education, a title she holds today. The Health Science Center School of Medicine operates the RAHC Medical Education Division at Harlingen and the RAHC Medical Research Division at Edinburg.

Daughter carries on tradition
Dr. Valdez and Dr. Martinez have a daughter, Dora, who graduated from Rice University in 2003. Following in her parents’ footsteps, Dora Martinez went to medical school. She chose the School of Medicine, in part because she wanted to return to the Valley for her last two years of medical school. She was able to do so because of the RAHC.

Dora was one of the approximately 200 students who received an M.D. degree at the School of Medicine commencement May 19. She will do her residency at one of the RAHC’s clinical partners, Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen.

She has opportunities that 30 years ago seemed distant.

Three generations
“Culturally, it was hard for me to break through,” Dr. Valdez said. “Things have changed. When I started practice in the early 1990s, only a handful of female physicians were in private practice in Harlingen. Now there are an incredible number of female surgeons, female family physicians and female ob-gyn physicians here. This is great for Dora and all the other daughters seeking a medical career.”

The journey from Eloisa to Adela to Dora has taken 50 years. These three generations of women reflect changes in the mindset of a nation and among families. The existence of the RAHC is another step forward for the Valley, and for Texas, in this process.