Eva is a pediatrician by profession / RTVE.
A pediatrician by profession, Eva landed in MasterChef —the popular television contest— looking for a jump start in her life following experiencing a certain disenchantment in health, a sector with which she dreamed of working since she was a child, as she explains to Medical Writing. “Since I can remember I have wanted to be a pediatrician. I come from a family of doctors, with a pediatrician grandmother, a pediatrician father and a vaccine researcher… So I would not like to definitively disassociate myself from my profession.” Perhaps for this reason, every Wednesday on his Instagram account he shares small pills on medicine with all the followers you have gained thanks to the contest.
After passing through the program’s kitchens, the doctor explains to this newspaper that she decided to “temporarily leave Pediatrics because I realized that the system was destroying my vocation.” Eva assures that “the saturation and the Labor conditions that we have many toilets” ended up taking her away for a while from the Pediatric consultations.
“Once you get into the world of medicine, you enter a maelstrom from which it is difficult to get out. You study the career, then the MIR, the residency… Once the residency is finished, most of the ‘new specialists’ end up with precarious contracts for fear of leaving. For this reason I decided that it was time to take a break and see other things”, he explains to Medical Writing.
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“Once the residency is over, the ‘new specialists’ end up with precarious contracts for fear of leaving” |
In her search for new passions, Eva undertook a volunteer as a pediatrician in the Dominican Republic where he was “very happy and from where I started the casting process to enter the tenth edition of MasterChef”. And she explains: “I decided to leave to take a break from the work routine I had in Valencia and because I mightn’t find no contract that suits my needs. I was there for two wonderful months, where I was able to practice Pediatrics, do health education, get to know the local gastronomy and meet incredible people”. That time of disconnection helped the health worker to find “tranquility”, but also “happiness, experiences, knowledge , friendships, gastronomy… I was already aware of how lucky I was to have been born in Spain and experiences like these serve to reaffirm it. I will definitely return to volunteer throughout my life”.
As explained to Medical WritingEva did her residency at the Lluís Alcanyís Hospitalin Xàtiva, although in his professional experience as a pediatrician he also has rotations in other hospitals such as 12 de Octubre in Madrid, La Fe in Valencia and Saint Georges Hospital in London.
“Medicine is a very competitive world”
Came to MasterChef without having to request a leave of absence from work because at the time of her entry into the program she did not have a valid contract and her experience as a doctor has helped Eva to face the challenge of the kitchen competition. She affirms that the hardest thing regarding her time at MasterChef has been “competition with herself”, a feeling that she was not unknown to. “I come from a very competitive world that is Medicine, but it is competitive in another way. Medicine has always been very good to me and I control it thanks to the years of study, while in the kitchen I used to get frustrated that certain things were out of my control. Also, unfortunately, there were times when in MasterChef the competition was extrapolated to coexistence and, without a doubt, this was the most complicated.
In addition to competition, Eva found other tools in her experience as a pediatrician to face this challenge, such as stress management. “Because of my profession, she was already used to cope with stressful situations and to put myself to the test, but not in an area where I felt I had less control over the situation,” he says.
A tribute to the Hospital Lluís Alcanyís
In his five-week stint on the TVE program, he did not forget where he came from and even dared to surrender tribute to his fellow servicemen. “I am happy with the dish that I dedicated to my old hospital, the Lluís Alcanyís. A foie gras and mushroom rice with a blood crust, which was the ingredient that we had to use in the test. With this dish I made my debut in the kitchen and I wanted make him a tribute not only to my hospital but to all Valencians. Unfortunately, the result was not as good as I would have liked, but the judges — Pepe Rodríguez, Jordi Cruz and Samantha Vallejo-Nágera — were satisfied”, he explains proudly to Medical Writing.
With her career in Medicine as insurance, Eva now plans to continue learning more regarding the world of cooking. “I want to continue researching this area without closing my doors to anything. I’m still young and I have time to change course a couple more times before back to Pediatrics“, he concludes.
Although it may contain statements, data or notes from health institutions or professionals, the information contained in Medical Writing is edited and prepared by journalists. We recommend the reader that any questions related to health be consulted with a health professional.
