(This article originally appeared in the June 2019 issue of Coast Magazine. Photo by Leonard Ortiz)

She was what we used to call a latchkey kid, the only child of a divorced mom working a few jobs to make ends meet. This was in South L.A., in the shadow of the USC campus, a place the girl felt “in awe of.”

Today that girl is Laguna Beach resident Dr. Diana Ramos, adjunct assistant clinical professor at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, who on June 15 is set to become the first Latinx woman, as well as the first public health physician, to hold the position of president of the Orange County Medical Association.

“You grow up fast and you learn the life skills that are going to help you be a better person,” says Ramos of her upbringing. “I saw my mom really work hard to give me the best education she possibly could.” 

Read the full profile here.