Inspiring Essex County College Graduate Earns Prestigious, $90K Award

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A graduate of Essex County College recently nailed down a $90,000 award from the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.

Silvia Huerta Lopez was one of only 30 recipients – out of nearly 2,000 applicants – to receive the 2023 fellowship. She is currently in the Harvard Medical School joint Harvard-MIT MD/PhD program.

“To me, what’s so special is that the fellowship is for immigrants and children of immigrants,” said Lopez, who was born in rural Mexico and has carved out an inspiring success story for herself.

According to the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans website:

“Silvia Huerta Lopez spent her early childhood living in the rural countryside of El Zapote de Cuendeo in Michoacan, Mexico. Poverty and the lack of medical infrastructure made access to care and education nearly impossible and eventually led Silvia and her family to immigrate to the United States when she was six. Silvia and her family settled in New Jersey, where their legal status continued to limit their access to dignified working conditions, health care, and education. Working low-wage factory jobs to make ends meet, Silvia’s parents exemplified the resilience to build a strong foundation in their new home and enable their children to have a better life. These experiences gave Silvia the resolve to advocate for undocumented immigrants and patients.”

After earning a degree from Essex County College in biology, pre-medicine, Silvia received a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Transfer Scholarship worth $90,000 at the time. She transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, earning her bachelor’s degree in biology in 2017.

While at Harvard, Lopez co-founded Quetzales de Salud, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve access to primary medical care for undocumented immigrants through medical accompaniment. The organization supports Spanish-speaking patients through one-on-one phone calls with medical trainees before, during, and after clinic appointments or hospitalizations to ensure they have the resources and services to receive quality medical care.

The fellowship money will go a long way toward Lopez being able to earn her doctorate in neurobiology, she said.

Lopez said she wants to work with underserved communities and immigrant populations once she completes her doctorate studies. But the future advocate for justice won’t forget her alma mater, she added.

“Essex County College provided me with a solid foundation to help me work toward my goals and dream,” Lopez said.

“Congratulations to Silvia Huerta Lopez,” Essex County College President Augustine Boakye said. “All of us at ECC are very proud of her.”

Essex County College has campuses in Newark and West Caldwell.

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