McMullan Award recognizes Rodrigo Colón García’s desire to impact his community

Emory College senior Rodrigo Colón García made a decision when he was in eighth grade: What he carried with him outweighed what he left when his family traded the mountains of Puerto Rico for the north Georgia mountains.

That list extended beyond a passion for science and fluency in English and Spanish. He also had a family, all of whom work in business and health care, that encouraged his ambition to become the kind of doctor who considers social and environmental factors - not just biological causes of disease - when treating patients.

"One principle my family instilled was that we should use what we love to make a difference in our communities," Colón García says. "I promised myself, if I got into Emory, I would give back to the Hispanic community in Georgia. I just wanted to have an impact."

He lived up to that pledge when, just months after his acceptance, Colón García was connecting patients and health care providers with Emory Volunteer Medical Interpretation Services (VMIS). The organization provides Spanish and Portuguese medical interpretation services to underserved areas of Atlanta.

He earned his interpreter qualifications and volunteered with the group the next four years, deepening the relationship between VMIS and the Grace Village Medical Clinic's diabetes program and statewide mobile health care. He also led VMIS workshops in metro Atlanta, teaching staffers how to best work with interpreters.

Other examples of his servant-minded leadership include launching a cooking/delivery club to tackle food insecurity in metro Atlanta, volunteering each summer with the Emory Farmworker Project in rural Georgia and traveling to Honduras and Panama to volunteer with Global Medical Brigades.

He carved out time for that significant community service while excelling academically. Colón García graduates with highest honors in neuroscience and behavioral biology (NBB) for his research into nerve regeneration in the lab of Emory cellular biologist Francisco J. Alvarez.

For his exemplary leadership and exceptional potential, Colón García is this year's winner of the Lucius Lamar McMullan Award.

Made possible by a generous gift from Emory alumnus William Matheson 47G, the McMullan Award singles out one Emory College graduate each year whom the Emory community expects extraordinary things from on a community, national and global scale.

The award also comes with $30,000, no strings attached. Colón García plans to use part of the money to take his family to Puerto Rico for a visit and use the rest for medical school. He starts at Emory School of Medicine this fall.

"Rodrigo is not shy about working hard," says Alvarez, vice chair of the Department of Cell Biology at Emory School of Medicine.

"What is amazing is how many things he has committed to and provided leadership to," Alvarez adds. "I know he will continue to improve the lives of others, particularly in communities that need him more than others, when he becomes an MD."

Serving from past experiences

Colón García's inspiration to uplift others grew from watching his family, including his uncle Julio García, a physician who delivered medications and treatment in rural parts of the Dominican Republic before passing last year.

In his mind, Colón García started small, using skills he already had to help across Emory's campus. Providing advice to high school students through Matriculate Emory allowed him to share guidance he received in navigating the college application process. Making meals for Bread Coffeehouse and Atlanta's Free Fridge network tapped into his love of cooking.

Three of his Matriculate advisees have since been accepted into their dream universities and two others won full rides to top-tier colleges through the QuestBridge Scholars program.

When the Free Fridge network closed, Colón García kept cooking. He eventually created a club with friends - the "Few Cooks" named for the kitchen in Few Hall - that delivered 3,000 fresh, hot meals in greater Atlanta this year alone.

"Rodrigo definitely has a deep compassion," says senior Josh Kenigsberg, who formed the Few Cooks with Colón García and fellow senior Sergio Solis. "He is so well respected and loved in these programs, because he doesn't see it as work, just fulfillment."

Impacting campus and community

As much as Colón García became known for his campus involvement, his dedication to health care service is even more evident.

Between interpreting at clinics and health fairs through VMIS and leading training workshops for more than 300 medical students each year, Colón García extended his network to leaders in the Rollins School of Public Health and the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

Those connections led him to the Farmworker Family Health Program run by Emory Nursing and the Georgia Department of Public Health.

After volunteering for two summers, he served as lead interpreter in 2025, helping with care for 750 adults and 400 children. Colón García has spent the last few months as an undergraduate working statewide to recruit 42 new volunteers - including Kenigsberg - who will join him when he returns as lead interpreter this summer.

Witnessing first responders save his brother from a near-drowning as a child also inspired him to earn his advanced EMT certification. He volunteered with Emory EMS for two years while working last summer with American Medical Response.

"Every year I tell my students I want them to be part of the community, but I have never seen someone integrate as fully as Rodrigo," says Leah Roesch, an associate teaching professor in NBB and Colón García's major advisor. "I hope he realizes how special it is that he can take all of these talents - understanding the biology of medicine, health care systems and the complexities of the human condition - and connect them in a way that is meaningful and that we need as a society."

Colón García is humbled by the recognition.

To him, he is just someone who stocks his kitchen with dozens of spices so he can enjoy cooking and connecting with as many people as possible.

"Food is universal. Having a warm meal in front of you reminds you that you are connected," he says. "I'm just using what I love to have an impact."

Colón García's impact is undeniable to Solis. The pair connected as first-year students and built their friendship over service work and playing basketball and dominoes between study sessions.

The pair plan to keep in touch as Solis heads to medical school at Temple University this fall.

"My grandfather told me that one of the most important things in college would be finding good people," Solis says. "He is always happy to hear that I've kept this relationship with Rodrigo. He knows he is a good influence - on me and everyone around him."