Miglena Garkova is a nurse practitioner postgraduate fellow at our California Avenue clinic. After completing her nursing education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and her DNP program at Rush University with a concentration in family practice, she was an obstetric nurse for six years in the inpatient setting, caring for gyne, antepartum/postpartum patients, and newborns. During her clinical rotations at Rush, she was placed at an FQHC outpatient clinic, and fell in love with serving this patient population. This experience was what further solidified her passion for community service, evidence-based primary care, and health education. Miglena was drawn to Esperanza because of the strong sense of community and our dedication to serve historically marginalized communities. She’s also passionate about healthcare in immigrant populations, and about reducing health disparities in severe maternal morbidity and mortality – she strongly believes this starts with primary care. In her free time, Miglena enjoys taking hiking trips, learning about different cultures, playing tennis, and spending time with loved ones and her very social Siamese kitty named Coco.