Costco Scholarship support made a UW education possible—sparking Carlos Estrada Alamo's multidisciplinary medical career built on boundless curiosity.
The emergency room at Harborview Medical Center might seem like an unusual place for a high school student to spend Friday and Saturday nights, but Carlos Estrada Alamo, ’11, was drawn to the community he found there.
Dressed in the salmon-pink scrubs designated for volunteers, he wiped down beds, prepared linens and welcomed patients seeking immediate care. If they were comfortable with it, Estrada would stick around to listen to their stories or observe procedures such as setting a broken bone.
Seeing a range of medical specialists, from pediatricians to neurosurgeons, caring for patients gave Estrada a front-row seat to the “full scope of medicine,” he says. “It was the first time I saw a community that resonated with me—a community focused on the well-being of other people.” That struck a chord in the math-and-science-loving teen, who began thinking about a future in medicine.
But Estrada’s path forward—first to the University of Washington and then to both medical and business school at Harvard University—wasn’t an easy one.
When he was 5 years old, Estrada’s family moved to Seattle from Mexico. Attaining citizenship proved to be an uphill climb, and their undocumented status brought many hardships. Although his parents worked six days a week, Estrada recalls that they couldn’t afford to buy milk—and their grueling work schedules made it difficult to access public health care. The fear of deportation followed Estrada everywhere. At school he felt isolated, and at home he suffered recurring nightmares of hiding in the family’s one-bedroom apartment to escape immigration officers.
But he stayed optimistic that things would get better. “There was always a little voice in my head saying, ‘Your future is in your hands, and education is the way forward,’” he recalls. He carried that mindset into high school, where he excelled in math and science, performed in plays and enjoyed being outdoors.
Getting into the UW, an academic powerhouse close to home, felt like an exciting step into the future he imagined for himself—but there were still financial hurdles to clear. At that time in the mid-2000s, undocumented students like Estrada weren’t eligible for any federal or state financial aid.
What seemed impossible was made a reality by the Costco Diversity Scholarship, awarded to high-achieving Washington students from underrepresented communities. When he was awarded the scholarship, Estrada breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he had guaranteed financial support throughout his undergraduate education.
Stepping onto the UW’s expansive campus in Seattle, Estrada initially felt lost. But he eventually found a supportive group of friends through Greek life—and an inspiring academic path in bioengineering, which applies engineering principles to biology and medicine. Eager to explore the combination of technology and health care, he saw in bioengineering how technology could help remove barriers like those his family had faced.
“It was exciting to apply what you know to help improve people’s lives and access to opportunities,” says Estrada. “Technology is that perfect solution to bridge people into the system in a way that accommodates their needs.”
What seemed impossible was made a reality by the Costco Diversity Scholarship, awarded to high-achieving Washington students from underrepresented communities.
His senior capstone project, developing a diagnostic tool for detecting HIV, gave him the chance to do just that: “I could see the impact I could make in the world.” As a Husky, Estrada continued to gain firsthand medical experience at Harborview, eventually becoming a medical assistant.
But as graduation approached, his undocumented status was still a roadblock to his dream of being a doctor. Most of the medical schools he’d contacted had no experience enrolling undocumented students. To give himself more time to figure out the process, Estrada extended his undergraduate studies to a fifth year and completed a second degree in biochemistry.
By spring 2013, Alamo had permanent resident status and was anxiously waiting to hear back from more than a dozen medical schools. Feeling stressed, he decided to clear his head on an early-morning hike in the mountains, where he had no cellphone reception. Just as he returned to the trailhead, a message popped up in his inbox: he’d been accepted to Harvard Medical School. He would eventually get into every program he applied to.
At Harvard, Estrada was encouraged to follow his intellectual passions. Seeking a bigger-picture perspective on health care, he pursued a concurrent MBA at Harvard Business School. There, Estrada gained not only finance and management skills but also the freedom to apply his experience to solving problems in real-world scenarios. And he saw how these skills could make him a better health care provider.
Earning concurrent MD and MBA degrees fueled his conviction that ideas and technologies from other industries can help transform health care. He put that theory to the test during his medical residency at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. As an anesthesiology resident, Estrada was ordering blood products for patients without knowing how much was needed for each procedure. Over-ordering led to waste, while under-ordering could put the patient at risk. He wanted a predictive tool to recommend the right amount of blood based on data and patient information—and since one didn’t exist, he resolved to develop it himself.
The project took several years—first talking to clinicians and data analysts, then getting buy-in from senior leadership at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. But it allowed Estrada to do what he felt uniquely qualified for: bridging the gap between doctors and nonmedical experts to solve problems.
It’s an area where Estrada, now working as a general anesthesiologist in Rochester, New York, sees himself in the future. He aims to be a leader in bolstering the health care safety net for the most vulnerable populations, but also to create a new generation of leaders. He plans to continue mentoring current and formerly undocumented students to pursue STEM education.
“My journey demonstrates the immense value of investing in the education and training of future health care leaders,” says Estrada, reflecting on the lasting impact of the scholarship that made it possible for him to attend the UW. “I hope it will inspire others to make a positive difference in the world.”
Since 2000, the Costco Diversity Scholarship has enabled more than 1,200 Husky undergraduates to attend the UW. Every year, the scholarship is awarded to high-achieving, high-need incoming freshmen from communities traditionally under-served in education. Each student receives $10,000 per year for four years, thanks to the Costco Scholarship Fund, which was created by Costco co-founders Jeff Brotman, ’64 and ’67, and Jim Sinegal.