Special Feature

December 1, 2022

FACTS Ambassador Feature: Andrea Velazquez

A high school teacher turns to medicine to teach more teens about FABMs

By: Mariel Padilla

Editor’s Note: FACTS Ambassadors are medical or health professional students and residents from across the country (and the world!) who desire to learn more about fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) and choose to share this information with colleagues to educate them about FABMs. This month, we are featuring Andrea Velazquez, a mother of two and former high school teacher who is now a third-year medical student. To help expand our Ambassador program, please make a tax deductible donation TODAY to support our students which will be MATCHED in celebration of #GivingTuesday.

Andrea Velazquez taught high schoolers for seven years before she decided to pursue a long-held desire to become a doctor. Now, at 34 years old, Velazquez, a mother of two, is a FACTS ambassador and a third-year medical student completing rotations.

Velazquez discovered FACTS when she attended a fertility awareness-based methods (FABM) conference in 2019. She had been using FABMs in her personal life for nearly a decade, since before she and her husband had gotten married.

“I was super impressed that the medical school that I was considering going to was bringing a FABM conference to their campus, so I went there and actually met a great mentor of mine, Dr. Kate Heimann” Velazquez said. “I ended up shadowing Dr. Heimann, a couple months later; she wrote my letter of recommendation; and through her I ended up shadowing other physicians who also practice FABMs on a regular basis.”

Velazquez became an ambassador just before she enrolled at Marian University. In her first year, she arranged for a family medicine physician to speak to other medical students and more recently attended a speaker training herself when FACTS released a presentation, Know Your Body, specifically for adolescents.

“Because of my previous experience teaching high school students, I have a special place in my heart for adolescents and am super excited to give that talk a couple of times this year,” Velazquez said. “I want to be able to spread the word to young people about the beauty of how their bodies work.”

“I want to be able to spread the word to young people about the beauty of how their bodies work.”

As an ambassador, Velazquez said she also attends monthly meetings with other ambassadors and doctors to get updates, listen to speakers and network. In her day-to-day routine, she regularly speaks with peers about FACTS and its electives.

“I actually have a friend who is currently in the elective, and she regularly communicates with me about all the things that she is learning that we weren’t specifically taught in medical school,” Velazquez said. “She tells me how much she is enjoying the electives, and that’s kind of a big part about being a FACTS ambassador too — communicating with people who expressed an interest in learning more or interested in women’s health more generally.”

Velazquez said becoming involved with FACTS has helped her surround herself with a community of physicians, medical students and other medical professionals who are all interested in learning more about FABMs — methods that are not often taught thoroughly in medical school. FACTS also provides invaluable mentorship, additional training and updates on the field.

“Becoming involved with FACTS has helped Velazquez surround herself with a community of physicians, medical students and other medical professionals who are all interested in learning more about FABMs.”

“One of the most important things for students is, if there is something that you really want to pursue, to find people that are doing it,” Velazquez said. “Otherwise, it’s going to be very hard to do it on your own.”

Velazquez said she recently saw how meaningful FABMs can be for patients while she was shadowing a physician. The doctor explained to a patient some basic female physiology information and why her cycle was abnormal. The patient, a woman in her 30s, had felt ignored by previous physicians and left the appointment visibly moved, with tears in her eyes. Her abnormal cycle had been impacting her quality of life, and now she knew that she could do something about it.

“It was a powerful, powerful moment, and I knew that that is something I want to do in my own practice for patients,” Velazquez said. “I also think about my students because this woman was in her 30s. If someone had talked to her when she was a teenager, she could have had many more years of healthy living. Every young girl deserves to have access to this information and feel heard by their physicians.”

“Every young girl deserves to have access to this information and feel heard by their physicians.”

Mariel Padilla

Mariel Padilla is a journalist working with us as editor of the FACTS blog. In her full-time job, Mariel writes about the intersection between gender, politics and policy — but she was introduced to the FACTS team by her brother, Mikey. When she’s not writing or editing, she’s probably reading, painting or playing with her niece and nephew who live down the street.