Dr. Mason Heywood grew up in the small community of Magna, Utah. He spent several years working in medical research in the field of Pediatric Cardiology before going back to school to obtain his medical degree from St. George’s University on the island of Grenada, and completed his clinical rotations in Paterson, New Jersey.

Dr. Heywood chose Family Medicine with a career goal to settle in a rural community and be a resource for health and wellness for patients of all ages. He is excited to complete his residency in Silver City and its surrounding towns and looks forward to working with the amazing people of Hidalgo Medical Services.

Dr. James T. Shen was born and raised in Southern California. He has been interested in medicine from his earliest memories. After graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Biological Sciences, he went on to earn his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

Dr. Shen finished a surgical internship before starting military service. From 2014 to 2018, he served with Air Force Special Operations Command as a Special Operations Forces Medical Element (SOFME) Flight Surgeon. He has deployed three times to various parts of the world providing care to US and coalition troops as well as local underserved civilians. He is excited to be a part of the Family Medicine Residency and is looking forward to building relationships with and learning from his instructors, fellow residents, and patients.

Dr. Manzano received his M.D. from Ross University School of Medicine. He chose Family Medicine because of his personal experience of contracting Dengue Fever (twice!) as a child and almost dying each time. He cites the experience as what really drove him into pursuing rural medicine as it gave him “an appreciation and perspective of what it meant to put on the patient gown.” He credits his life being saved “because someone decided to go into primary care and I would like to dedicate my life doing the same.”

Dr. Manzano chose HMS and Silver City because of the people, the city, and the “wonderful staff at HMS”. He states that “from the day I first interviewed, I felt the warmth and nurturing environment in the program and I truly wanted to be a part of it.”

Dr. Erica Palin, M.D. is from the rural county of Lancaster, Virginia. Since she was young, Dr. Palin has always wanted to become a physician; inspired by the physicians from her small town who always took part in the local community where she grew up. From being part of the Medical Explorers Post in high school to raising funds for local soup kitchen with the American Latino Medical Association in medical school, Dr. Palin has always wanted to do what she could to help others around her. “I am very excited to become part of this program. Its mission, purpose and people are all something that I very much want to be a part of.”