Gail Guerrero-Tucker, MD, MPH, FAAFP

Personal Statement

Medicine is an interesting calling. Strangers trust us with details of their lives and ask us to help them decide about something important to them or tell them what to do. Sometimes, we have little or no context for that advice. It took us four or so years of college, four or so years of medical school then the three or so years of residency to earn a level of trust that is out of proportion with the fact than we are, indeed, human beings who have our own trials and tribulations.

Does this shock and surprise you? It still surprises me as I edge close to 20 years of medical practice. This is even more pronounced on medical missions when being a doc from the U.S. clouds treatment and advice — stay humble! This is who we are: family physicians!

Biography 

Gail Del Carmen Guerrero-Tucker, MD, MPH, FAAFP,  was born in Nogales, a border town in southern Arizona. She was born the fourth child of six, and the only girl, to an immigrant parent from Puebla, Mexico, and an American parent from Dayton, Ohio. Nogales was chosen as the place to settle and raise the family because it is the middle point between Dayton and Puebla. Her family soon moved to Tucson for better job opportunities, but not before her father had tried a few different business opportunities in search of the American dream. 

As a child growing up in her family, it became clear to Dr. Guerrero-Tucker that hard work was the key to everything. The family opened a restaurant when she was 9, and the siblings all worked there until they married and moved away from home. 

Education was very important in Dr. Guerrero-Tucker’s family. As such, she started college, but when she met her husband, she put her education on pause to marry and start a family. Her husband was stationed out of the country often during his military career. She only joined him once, so most of the time she was a single parent. 

Dr. Guerrero-Tucker was able to head back to school over time and was finally able to follow her dream of medical school as a non-traditional student. On the way to medical school, she was able to accumulate some degrees and experience as a promotora assigned to a mobile clinic under an AmeriCorps program at the University of Arizona.  

Becoming a physician was a childhood dream that seemed so far out of reach. Dr. Guerrero-Tucker is now able to help others realize that same dream. She enjoys encouraging students to keep working at goals that seem impossible and helping residents realize family medicine can be tailored to what they love in medicine. Dr. Guerrero-Tucker also loves introducing fellow physicians and other medical clinicians to the joy of global health!