Andres Marin

Andres Marin

New SCORES board member Andres Marin splits his family medicine practice between working at La Clinica de la Raza, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) that cares for the underserved in Oakland, and at San Francisco General Hospital as a UCSF faculty resident. He’s also a SCORES parent, with two kids in the program. We talked to him about his roots, how he became passionate about medicine, and the value a program like SCORES can have in a child’s life. 

You spent the first ten years of your life in Ecuador. What do you remember about living there? 

Ecuador continues to play a big role in my life – early memories, connections, community, and extended family who still live there.

We were city folks, living in the capital, Quito, in the northern highlands, one of the three main regions of Ecuador. We lived in a four-story complex. It was a great set-up. My family, my aunts, uncles, and cousins were on the first three floors and my grandparents lived on the fourth floor. We were lucky. Kids running up and down the stairs, extended family all the time. It wasn’t luxurious – sometimes we didn’t have hot water – but we were all together. It was wonderful.

When I was ten, we moved to live with my other grandparents in Los Angeles. We went back to visit Ecuador every summer. We just recently sold our home there. 

Can you think of a childhood moment that ties to your involvement with SCORES today? 

I remember being on the playground the first week at my new school in LA. A lot of the kids were playing football, but I didn’t know American football. So I tried to join these other kids playing basketball, which I knew something about. I felt like an outsider, like nobody wanted to pick me or pass to me. Then, just at the exact moment the lunch bell was ringing, I scored a basket. Right after that, as we were walking into the line, I made many of my childhood friends. They came up to me and introduced themselves. I have such a vivid memory of that one moment. I had been a nobody for so many days, and then all of a sudden I was someone. Being in team sports taught me lessons I’ve carried through my personal life, my marriage, my work. 

How did you first get interested in pursuing medicine? 

When I was a freshman at Pomona College, my best friend from high school became an EMT in LA. He convinced me to join him; I needed the money to help pay for college. I joined him on Friday night shifts in LA, me and my buddy in the ambulance. We were mainly transporting people, but the experience solidified my interest in medicine. 

I loved meeting people. I enjoyed the thrill and the rush of emergencies, the whole scene. It was exciting. And it was fascinating. I was starting to take pre-med classes and learning about science and biology and how they come together. I learned so much being in the proximity of working physicians. There’s the medicine part of the experience, but it’s paired with an actual person and their story and the community. The way it all fits together is pretty amazing.  

You’re now both a SCORES board member and a SCORES parent. How did that happen?

Both my kids go to Sanchez Elementary School in San Francisco. My daughter actually just graduated. My wife is the principal, and she was a teacher there for many years before that. My kids were in utero and took their first steps at Sanchez. It’s an important part of our family story. 

I remember right after SCORES installed a turf field at Sanchez. I didn’t even know about the organization at the time, but I remember that the new field instantly changed recess for the kids. They were making snow angels on the field. And they were playing soccer. 

In third grade, my daughter could join the SCORES team. She had grown up playing, but she’d never been on a team, and then suddenly, she was on a team!  We went to the games and realized there were no refs. What was this all about? SCORES staff explained the philosophy and the way the calls are directed by the kids. It can be a little bumpy, but in that conflict is where the learning happens, where the growth happens. We realized the kids were doing a good job of managing the games themselves. I was super impressed. There’s a kind of learning that’s happening all the time in team sports, both about being a leader and about being a follower. Being committed to your team and having your team rely on you to face problems are really important human values. 

Then we went to a poetry event, and my daughter had prepared a poem. I saw that there were all these soccer people around. And that was when I realized that this is what SCORES is all about – soccer, poetry, the whole kid. There’s a need for SCORES at schools like Sanchez – it’s transformative. 

I started to do some volunteering and then was asked to join the board. There are a lot of different ways to give back to the community, and this marries and merges many of my particular interests. My son joined SCORES last year and this has been his intro to soccer and poetry as well. We’re all in. 

What do you like to do in your free time? 

Anytime I’m outside I’m happy, especially climbing and surfing. And I love woodworking. I love tinkering and building things.

You can read more SCORES Five Questions With conversations here.