Where do you call home?
For me home is any of the municipalities of the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Home can be the place of my nest, where my child plays and rests, and it is also the calmness brought art and reflection.
What are your clinical or research interests?
My clinical interests are sexual and reproductive health, including abortion care, contraception, STD prevention and management, caring for PLWH, trans care, and integration of these services within primary care
What do you wish other providers knew about reproductive health, rights, and justice?
I wish other providers knew that reproductive healthcare services can be a clinical service full of love and gratitude, that it can be a place where those principles of non-maleficence, beneficence, respect for autonomy and justice are deeply embedded and present, and that we owe it to our patients to use the power of our voices to protect the right to sensible, respectful, safe and quality healthcare.
What local justice-centered organization do you want to uplift?
I would like to uplift Darlington Medical Associates for their amazing job at providing quality care services, educating the community , building bridges of solidarity and fighting for the defense pf reproductive rights.
What is bringing you joy?
It brings me joy to care for my patients, to make them feel listened and able to trust. It brings me joy to be a mother and see my kid grow. It brings me joy to be part of the audience of Caribbean sunsets by the sea.
Our Meet Our Advocates series showcases the talents and passion of one of our doctors and finds out, in their own words, what inspires them to be physician advocates. Alejandra Vélez Rivera (MD) is a Fellow in our Leadership Training Academy Class of 2025 and specializes in Family Medicine.