“Service to others” is a motto that Dr. Aguilera lives by. It is what motivates and fulfills him each day. When he was 3-years-old, he immigrated to t…“Service to others” is a motto that Dr. Aguilera lives by. It is what motivates and fulfills him each day. When he was 3-years-old, he immigrated to the U.S. from a small Agrarian village located in the northern mountains of Jalisco, Mexico. He grew up in the “barrio” of the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, where he experienced gangs, drugs, violence and poverty, which had him start working at the young age of 13, selling flowers on the street corners. Although he did meet different challenges, at a young age he found time to visit the needy in convalescent homes, volunteer at food pantries and dedicate time to homeless shelters. He is the product of his humble parents - his father a landscape laborer, and mother a homemaker - who taught him, “through service, hard work and discipline...you will succeed.”
He is the fifth of 6 children who all found the path to excellence by pursuing a higher education at different Universities. Dr. Aguilera left his home after high school and attended the University of California at Berkeley. There he majored in Molecular and Cell Biology and continued to carry out his work ethic by holding a part-time job and service work throughout his undergraduate education. He then matriculated at the University of Illinois - College of Medicine at Rockford, where he earned his medical degree. He wanted to pursue a career in medicine because of his love for science and human biology and because of his experiences growing up, observing people suffer and die from ailments that may have been prevented due to inequities within the healthcare system. He also wanted to give back by serving as a role model to impact and influence people’s lives in a positive manner, .
Dr. Aguilera chose Family Medicine because it helps him fulfill his goals and aspirations, as no other field can create a setting, which embraces the flexibility and diversity conducive for longitudinal and personal care of patients. He believes it is a noble profession and is able to work with all walks of life – the very young to the very old; the healthy and the sick; the needy and the well to-do; he is able to take care of pregnant mothers and deliver their babies, take care of people at their home, in the hospital, in the clinic, and in the nursing home; he is able to prescribe medicine, advise on healthy lifestyle choices and do surgical procedures.
A protégé of Riverside University Health System, he completed his training in the Family Medicine Residency Program. Coming full circle, 28 years later, he is now serving as the Associate Program Director, the Physician in Charge for the Moreno Valley Community Health Center, and the Director of Clinical Skills 1 at the University of California – Riverside, School of Medicine. In these roles, he is involved with residency training and education, curriculum development, and clinical administration in an underserved setting, where he once trained. Dr. Aguilera is happily married for 25 years and has 2 college aged boys. He loves the outdoors, camping, fishing, playing sports, traveling and spending time with his wife, family and friends.
