Student Dr. Jatniel Rodriguez, PNWU-COM Class of 2026
PNWU-COM Alumni Endowed Scholar
Student Doctor Jatniel Rodriguez is studying medicine to treat the other thing he has studied his entire life: people.
Driven by a profound and lifelong fascination with learning and culture, Student Dr. Rodriguez is committed to bringing culturally competent care to the colorful and complex world that has forever shaped his own world view.
“I wouldn’t trade my current journey for the perfect journey,” said Rodriguez, smiling as he reflected on the path that brought him, alongside his parents and three brothers, to the United States – and ultimately Olympia, Washington – from the Dominican Republic.
A Childhood Immersed in Diversity and Community
His father, a minister, moved their family frequently for work, and Jatniel often found himself in unfamiliar places. All the while, he was comforted by a commonality that seemed to exist everywhere he went: an enchanting collection of people, from all walks of life, gathered together to share with one another.
As his family moved around he found that, although the languages and even dialects spoken in the churches in Chicago were different from those in places like Michigan and Washington, the messages were the same. As a wide-eyed child, Rodriguez sat quietly, observing the universal buzz of community, wisdom, culture, and love that seemed to radiate from every person he met.
Immersed in a soundtrack of diverse perspectives from around the world, even beliefs that once seemed mystical began making sense to Jatniel. He began to understand people’s motivations – their fears, desires, hesitancies, and passions – by first learning who they were, and where they came from.
As the minister’s son, he often felt his father’s congregation looking toward him with an expectation of inherited morality and understanding. For Jatniel, the pressure was inspiring. He knew he was in a position to make a difference.
“I was aware of what it was like to go to school in one culture, come home to another, and interact in a different one in my community,” Rodriguez explained. With that, he was also acutely aware of the communication gaps that existed between the people around him and the healthcare system they needed.
I wanted to be able to say, “I understand where you’re coming from, really, and we can work together to continue to grow.”
“I wanted to fill that space,” he said. “I wanted to be able to say, ‘I understand where you’re coming from, really, and we can work together to continue to grow.’” As his insatiable curiosity continued to shape his interests, Rodriguez discovered a subject as unique and colorful as the cultures that surrounded him: the human eye.
The anatomy of every set of eyes that looked out at him was complex and intricate. The variance between irises, eye shapes, and really, just about everything, was astounding. Something so small, yet so powerful; a beautiful instrument that brought such vibrance to the human experience.
When he brought up ophthalmology to his mom, he discovered that she hadn’t had her own eyes checked in over thirty years. Strapped by limited resources, including time and money, she and the people from his church had an unclear view of his ophthalmological aspirations.
“We adapt to our eyesight,” explained Rodriguez. “We get used to things being unclear, until they aren’t anymore, and suddenly the world changes.”
The Journey to Medical School: Trials and Triumphs
Motivated to bring that sort of clarity and strength to those around him, he enrolled as a pre-med/Religion major at Andrews University. Ranked amongst the top universities in the nation for both international and ethnic diversity, Rodriguez was surrounded by classmates from all over the world at Andrews, and entrenched in a curriculum capable of literally changing the way his community saw the world.
“I would go to class, and on one side of me would be someone from Ghana, on the other side would be someone from Indonesia, and in front of me someone from England.” The experience nurtured his cultural interests. When he realized he could ask a friend from chemistry class to help him learn Japanese, he did. Soon, he committed to learning ten languages fluently, so he could interact with and understand the world around him, and one day bring that understanding to his future patients.
As he began applying to medical schools, Rodriguez felt like he was missing something big: guidance. Someone to help show him the way. He was relying on trial and error, and in the face of his community-changing aspirations, his failures made him feel alone. “What do you mean you didn’t do as well as expected?” he recalled hearing when he struggled on his first MCAT exam.
“Why am I trying to do this?” he remembers thinking. “Is there anything else I can do? What do I want to accomplish?”
When he laid those questions out, the answer was clear: “I knew I had to keep going.”
Searching for a chance to fulfill his aspirations, Rodriguez got a call from Dr. Mark Taylor, who was leading the development of a Master of Arts in Medical Sciences (MAMS) program in Yakima, WA – just a few hours from his home.
Dr. Taylor told him about PNWU’s mission to bring care to medically underserved communities. As he learned more about the program’s holistic approach to admissions, interprofessional curriculum, and bold vision, he signed on as a master’s student in the program’s inaugural PNWU cohort.
A Commitment to Culturally Competent Care
Now a third-year Osteopathic Medical Student at PNWU, Rodriguez’s sustained passions for community health and culture have landed him at the center of Latin Medical Association Conferences, earned him a place in the Mayo Clinic’s Wilson Scholars Program and the University of Michigan’s highly-competitive Ophthalmology Summer Program, and even led to him being named the inaugural PNWU-COM Alumni Endowed Scholar.
Though the journey to his doctorate still regularly throws him unpathed challenges, his goal serves as a constant beacon: To be a physician who provides culturally competent care across multiple cultures.
“To do that,” said Rodriguez, “I need to go through this now.”
When he feels particularly overwhelmed, Rodriguez talks to his little brother – a seventeen-year-old chasing big dreams of his own: professional soccer. Recently, during one of those chats, his brother replaced his standard pep talks and motivational quotes with a suggestion: “We have to watch Spider Man: Into the Spider Verse together.”
When they finally sat down to do just that, Jatniel quickly understood the suggestion: “The main character was us!” he exclaimed.
The film follows Miles Morales, the biracial teenage son of an African American father and an Afro-Puerto Rican mother. “Watching that with my brother, I felt the power of representation,” said Rodriguez.
They weren’t translating Spanish to English, but blending the languages in a seamless Spanglish his family spoke fluently. Morales’ hair was dark and curly; he ate plátanos, and his overprotective Latina mom peppered him with love. “I’m the son of parents who did all they could to give me this opportunity,” said Rodriguez. “How inspiring that is, and how it affects those coming up in terms of who we are and where we are capable of going.”
“I’ve learned so much from the people around me, and I try and thank them for those lessons.”
“I’ve learned so much from the people around me, and I try and thank them for those lessons,” Rodriguez explained. “Gratitude is vital to being content, but being relentless is an awareness of what still needs to be done.”
Today, when he returns home and stops by his dad’s church in Olympia, people know Jatniel as not only the minister’s son, but a PNWU Student Doctor. They often ask him medical questions, and even when he replies, “I’m still just a student,” they want to hear his thoughts, because they know him, and they trust him.
With future aspirations as ambitious as his journey itself – including the continued quest to speak 10 languages – Student Dr. Rodriguez hopes to continue advancing in ophthalmology, contributing to research and providing care in underserved areas.
“I would like to go to other countries on missions to provide care,” he says, reflecting his desire to extend his impact beyond local communities.
“In order to learn where the needs are, people need to be comfortable enough to share their needs with you,” said Rodriguez. “To have somebody who is struggling with something that might otherwise be a secret share that with you, so you can help, is one of the most beautiful things in medicine.”