Brownsville physician looks forward to role as pediatrician

Brownsville native Dr. Carolina Venturi matched to the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston through the Baylor College of Medicine. She will receive her medical degree in May from the Tillman J. Fertitta School of Medicine at UH and complete her residency at Texas Children’s Hospital. (Courtesy photo)

Brownsville native Dr. Carolina Venturi is eager to start the next chapter in her preparation to become Brownsville’s newest pediatrician.

Venturi recently matched to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston through the Baylor College of Medicine during a ceremony held in Houston. She will receive her medical degree May 10 from the Tillman J. Fertitta School of Medicine at UH and complete her residency at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Speaking with The Brownsville Herald late last week, Dr. Venturi said she is thrilled to embark on her residency, but that she couldn’t have gotten to this point without the help of her parents, grandparents and mentors.

A 2017 honors graduate of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Venturi got the first inkling of her future career while working under the guidance of Brownsville pediatricians Drs. Carmen Rocco and Dolly Sevier.

The residency will take 3 1/2 years to complete, but after that she sees herself working in an outpatient setting, providing responsive equitable care to the community.

“I think that now my enhanced toolbox will equip me to effectively copilot critical periods, because in truth childhood is a unique stage that seems to encompass multiple lifetimes, some dull, some exciting, some thrilling, some tumultuous. …While youth may not realize it, their development offers space and time for reciprocal vulnerabilities. I welcome the privilege of safeguarding children’s health,” Venturi said.

Asked what is the best part of being a doctor, she said it is being able to witness and take part in the growth of a child from birth through 18 years of age.

“That’s such a privilege to contribute to their development, to witness it unfold, and to be a source of trusted information for parents,” she said.

Venturi said she is still undecided about pursuing a sub-specialty degree, which would require a fellowship and additional study. For example, the ICU would take an additional three years. But for now, the residency at UH represents her first job as a physician.

Among the four in her graduating class who matched to the Baylor College of Medicine, she was the only one to match in pediatrics, she said.

After graduating from UTRGV with a bachelor’s in psychology and minor in chemistry, Venturi pursued her medical degree concurrently with a master’s in public health from the UT Houston School of Public Health, graduating in August 2024.

“In truth, I am what they would call a non-traditional applicant to medicine. I did not decide to pursue medicine until my third and final year of my undergraduate studies. And I came to medicine realizing that health and well being are foundational, are necessary, to participate in society, in order to fulfill our roles as parents, friends et cetera, that health really is the underlying factor. Without well-being, without health, we are unable to participate fully,” she said.

Venturi said that under Rocco’s and Sevier’s guidance she came to regard Brownsville’s needs as her own.

“During my foundational 2 ½ years with them, the terms border health, health equity and medically under served became tangible,” she said.

“As somebody in the Rio Grande Valley, specifically Brownsville, I witnessed transportation barriers, lack of financial resources, inaccessible health care, patients needing to travel hours to the nearest larger city for sub-specialty health care,” she said.

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