Andrea Silvas is a primary care physician at the East Baltimore Medical Center, where she serves a predominantly Hispanic and newly arrived immigrant population. She is fluent in Spanish, and cares for her patients as both clinician and ally as she helps families navigate complex medical systems to achieve better health outcomes. This clinical work extends outside of her residency clinic into her work with the HEAL Refugee Health and Asylum Collaborative. In this clinical role, she hosts mental health groups for Spanish-speaking youth survivors of trafficking, and she conducts forensic medical-legal evaluation for people seeking asylum in Baltimore.
Despite the demanding work of being an internal medicine– pediatrics resident, Silvas gives back to the community. She has been a guest speaker at town halls discussing the impact of COVID-19 on Spanish-speaking families, and has volunteered her time at vaccine clinics. She has worked with Centro Sol and hosted several interactive and educational sessions for Spanish-speaking families. Topics focused on culturally specific ways that these families could participate in health lifestyle changes. Silvas has continued this health promotion work though Medicine for the Greater Good’s Lung Health Ambassador Program, teaching elementary age Spanishspeaking students about a range of topics including vaping, climate change and peer pressure.
Silvas is a transformative leader who draws from personal and shared difficulties of being in residency and leverages those experiences to improve the learning environment for others. Her work focuses on promoting well-being for residents, and this is evident through her leadership roles in the internal medicine and med/peds well-being committee. She was able to collaborate with committee members to produce a wellbeing app that is being studied and piloted at Johns Hopkins and another academic medicine institution. This innovation speaks to her ability to look at problems though scholarship and implementation. She has garnered respect from her co-residents not only for her formal work on well-being, but also for the collegial atmosphere she establishes wherever she goes. Silvas is known for excellent clinical care, wonderful teaching and a caring attitude that makes her a star in the eyes of her co-residents and patients.
Learn more about the 2024 Hispanic Heritage Month Achievers Award Winners