One year after joining Community Medical Centers as Associate Medical Director of the Family Medicine Residency Clinic at Channel, Stockton native Dr. Juan Lopez Solorza is making a lasting impact on both residents and patients. Known to colleagues as Dr. JLS, he’s helping future physicians strengthen their connections to the community through compassionate, hands-on care. The Family Medicine Residency Program, operated by Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Medical Center in partnership with CMC, provides residents with essential clinical experience — with CMC serving as their primary outpatient continuity clinic.
Last year, Stockton native Juan Lopez Solorza, MD, joined Community Medical Centers (CMC) as the Associate Medical Director of the Family Medicine Residency Clinic at Channel. For a variety of reasons, the 30 medical residents under his guidance are grateful that the man best known to his colleagues as Dr. JLS chose to come to CMC.
His residents say his leadership extends far beyond medical training.
“He’s very good at showing us different ways to connect to our patients, whether that be trying to get them connected to food banks or different services, or if somebody has hypertension, we need to try to get them a blood-pressure cuff so they can measure their blood pressure at home,” says Resident Simerjit Gill, MD. “He’s very good at finding the different avenues to getting the things our patients need.”
Resident Tarek Fatahi, MD, added, “With Dr. JLS’ background and experience, it helps connect with the patients here, and I think that’s huge for the community.”
Attracted by the chance to make a bigger community impact and to be part of leadership, Dr. JLS came to CMC from Turlock-based Livingston Community Health, where he was Associate Medical Director. He says his goal at CMC is to retain as many residents as possible.
“One of the biggest challenges is trying to grow your own,” Dr. JLS says.
He also says he wants to start more groups where patients can discuss the medical challenges they are facing with nurses, doctors or health educators.
“Peer-to-peer learning is extremely powerful,” Dr. JLS says. “You get a nurse with a health educator or a doctor who comes in and reinforces everything that’s being talked about. I used to do cooking lessons and chair exercises for patients. I’d say, ‘Look, you live in an area where it’s dangerous. You don’t have to go anywhere to do these exercises.’
“Let’s take a group of people who have the same condition, let’s put them in a room and talk about it, and be respectful of each other, and see how we can make improvements.”
The Family Medicine Residency Program is operated by Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Medical Center, which partners with Community Medical Centers to provide residents with comprehensive clinical training. CMC serves as the program’s primary outpatient continuity clinic, where residents gain hands-on experience caring for patients and building strong connections within the community.
