Joel Ramirez

Joel was born and raised in East Los Angeles County, California. He graduated with honors from the University of California, Irvine with a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. During his time at the University of California, Irvine he participated in peer-tutoring, mentorship programs, and basic science research and he served as a teaching assistant for upper division biology courses. He received multiple awards for excellence in tutoring and research. After graduating, he worked aboard an ambulance as an emergency medical technician in Los Angeles County prior to matriculating to the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

In medical school, he continued to teach, mentor, and advise undergraduate and medical students. He spent a year between his third and fourth year of medical school as a National Institutes of Health TL1 Clinical and Translational Research Fellow. He received a 266 on Step 1 and 265 on Step 2 CK and he scored in the 90th percentiles on all of his shelf exams. He also received honors in nearly all of his clinical rotations.

Collectively, he has been teaching a wide range of subjects for more than ten years and has experience tutoring for several board exams. He is passionate about teaching and strongly believes that with hard work, good direction, and resilience every medical student has the opportunity to succeed and pursue their dreams.

He is currently a Vascular Surgery resident at the University of California, San Francisco in 2019. He is interested in academic vascular surgery and plans to continue being involved in medical education. In his free time, he enjoys running, swimming, weightlifting, and exploring San Francisco with his friends and family.