Joanne Mercedes Fernandez is a third-year pre-med student at the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, who is minoring in Spanish. Joanne was born in Brooklyn and graduated  from Brooklyn Technical High School's bio-medical program. Of Dominican descent Joanne cofounded the Sophie Davis Chapter of the National Boricua Latino Health Organization and has served as vice president of Vision Latina, a student organization that advocates for the successful representation of Latinos in the health-care professions and for increased awareness of community health concerns. Joanne believes that the key to being a successful physician is to not only treat her patients but to advocate for their rights through improved health-care policies.