By Cathy Frisinger

When Dr. Bogar Garcia was in his junior year at UT Arlington, he was one of three undergraduate students selected to do a summer preceptorship in the Emergency Department at Parkland Memorial Hospital.

“I loved it. When the nurses and physicians learned I spoke Spanish, I became an unofficial translator. I had a blast,” Dr. Garcia said.

But once in UT Southwestern Medical School, he found he enjoyed many of the specialties during his rotations.

“When I did my pediatrics rotation, I fell in love with pediatrics. ‘I could be happy doing this,’ I thought. Then I fell in love with neurology. Each specialty felt good,” he said. “But then I remembered emergency medicine and thought, ‘I can see all of these in the Emergency Department.’ ”   

Dr. Garcia, 24, has received the 2015 Texas College of Emergency Physicians Award, presented to a medical student who demonstrates excellence in emergency medicine, with special dedication to Texans who need emergency care.

He credits his success to a highly supportive family and several mentors, including Dr. Jeffrey Van Dermark, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine; Dr. Angela Mihalic, Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Dean for Student Affairs; Dr. Drew Alexander, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Assistant Dean for Minority Student Affairs; and Dr. Michael Wainscott, former Director of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program.

“Dr. Bogar has an amazing success story in reaching this pinnacle. Determination and hard work are understatements regarding his pathway to this point,” Dr. Van Dermark said. “The Texas College of Emergency Physicians Award recognizes the characteristics and aspirations of physicians who want to give back to the citizens of Texas in emergency care. The faculty feels that Dr. Garcia exceeds all of these requirements and will be an outstanding physician to those in need.”

Dr. Garcia grew up in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, living in a crowded, single-family residence shared by two families. His freshman year he attended Sunset High School, but later transferred to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a magnet school, to study classical piano. While at Booker T. Washington, he took advantage of a program that allowed students to earn dual high school and college credits. He entered UTA as a sophomore.

As a medical student, Dr. Garcia made a point of paying forward the kind of guidance he received by starting a mentorship initiative. He arranged for about a dozen UT Southwestern medical students to meet with Advanced Placement science students at Sunset High School and Franklin D. Roosevelt High School in Dallas, hoping to encourage other South Dallas students to follow in his tracks.

Dr. Garcia and his wife, Abigail, a registered nurse he met while they were both in high school, will soon be heading to Temple for his residency at Texas A&M Health Science Center - Scott & White Memorial Hospital.