2025 Spring STAR Educator Recipient: Ryan Menchaca, MD
Ryan Menchaca, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Family Medicine
Nomination Submission:
From my first day of family medicine clerkship, Dr. Menchaca was inspiring. He kept things fast-paced and created an incredible learning experience. Each day, I came home inspired to be better. He created opportunities to give a presentation and taught me individually about multiple topics throughout our two weeks together. He made time to mentor me on my career goals outside of patient care, and his valuable insights impacted my future goals. The pearls that he taught about the physical exam I will use for the rest of my career, not just in family medicine. His enthusiasm for patient care was evident, as he walked out of a patient’s room after helping her through a depressive episode with an SSRI, saying, “wow that’s why I love medicine!” It was an honor to start my third-year learning from him, and I took his takeaways with me throughout the rest of my clerkship and into my future career. I wish I could spend more time learning with him!