Silvia R. Verdugo, MD, MPH

Medical Director

Silvia began her career in 2003 and brings extensive public health and EMS experience to the Clinical team. Silvia is a jack of all trades, she serves as the Medical Director for FirstWatch and leads our Clinical team, however it is not unusual to see her working on FirstPass, our quality improvement tool, as well as on everything related to opioid overdose and any research project that comes her way.

Before FirstWatch, Silvia was chief of the HIV and STD Prevention Program for the State Health Department of Baja California, Mexico, helping to make lives better for people suffering from drug abuse and living with HIV. She earned her MD and MPH degrees through a joint program from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC), Mexico and University of California, San Diego. Upon graduating, she completed several multi-year postdoctoral fellowships, and volunteered as a paramedic and on-field physician for the Mexican Red Cross, helping underserved and drug-prone communities in Mexico.

A down-to-earth kind of person, Silvia says, “I believe in making a name for myself not by the number of letters and symbols that follow my name but by the way I treat others.” If you ever want to see Silvia roll her eyes, just call her “Doctor Verdugo”. Silvia spends most of her free time with her two kids, making them smile and giggle at every chance she gets. Before her human babies came along, Silvia rescued dogs, having up to nine dogs at one point and making full use of the outside patio.