Salud Empoderada is a bilingual English-Spanish blog with the goals of providing pre-medical advice, exposure to careers in medicine through interviews with leaders in medicine and science, and resources to support and encourage Latino pre-medical college students at Arizona State University. This information is provided in the forms of blog posts and infographics. Salud Empoderada was created as a way to address the lack of representation of Latino medical students enrolled in U.S. medical schools and Latino physicians in the U.S. Therefore, Salud Empoderada targets Latino students in the first stage of their journeys to becoming a doctor, pre-medical students, to help inspire and guide them to pursue their dreams despite the challenges they may face, including struggles with mental health, socioeconomic status, access to Latino mentors in medicine and science, health disparities, gender, DACA status, attacks on affirmative action, and the MCAT exam. Furthermore, Salud Empoderada encompasses my trip with Barrett, The Honors College to Costa Rica to share insight on life in Costa Rica and the Indigenous tribes residing there. Sharing this experience with Latino pre-medical students may provide them further exposure to other cultures, the heterogeneity within Latin America, the importance of cultural competence in medicine and the possibilities that global health and Spanish studies offer to become well-rounded and holistic future physicians.

The importance and prevalence of health literacy has emerged in part due to continuing changes in the delivery of health care services, creating new responsibilities for patients and their caregivers, which include finding and evaluating information, self-monitoring health status, and understanding financial constraints and obligations. Those with low health literacy are not able to access the same healthcare benefits, nor are they able to maintain a healthier life as they are not as informed about preventative care. Spanish speakers in the U.S. are subject to these outcomes due to their low levels of health literacy, in which they ultimately experience more severe health issues, late-stage diseases, and higher disease burden. This paper is a comprehensive examination of health literacy among Spanish speakers and makes recommendations on policies that could be implemented into the U.S. healthcare system to better accommodate Spanish speakers and help improve their health literacy for the ultimate goal of improving health outcomes and access to healthcare.