UCSF Gives Joe Olivares Hernandez, S.F. Man Beaten to Death, Medical Degree

Joe O. Hernandez, MD

​Although Joe Olivares Hernandez died four months before graduating from medical school, he still earned his degree. UCSF officials last week gave Hernandez's family his medical degree and set up a scholarship fund in his name.
 
Hernandez, 30, was brutally beaten to death last month while he was out with a classmate at Temple Nightclub. His family says he was attacked by an Asian man he didn't know -- he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Police have not made any arrests.

Hernandez, who was declared brain dead, was on life support for several days before he died. His family donated his organs, which have already helped save other lives.

More than anything, his family said, Hernandez wanted to be a family doctor, helping low-income and immigrant populations receive quality medical care.

"It hurts so much -- he was so close to graduating and he was taken away," said Tonia Baca, his older sister.
One thing that has helped ease the pain: The university decided that Hernandez had earned his medical degree. Officials from UCSF will send the certificate to his family in the next few weeks; Baca says they plan to frame and display it in his parents' home.

Meanwhile, his sister is working hard to collect donations for the scholarship fund. The scholarship will be awarded to another medical student who wants to live out Hernandez's dreams of providing medical care to impoverished families in urban areas, Baca said.

Baca said she is striving to make it a permanent scholarship fund, which requires a $125,000 endowment. She is asking for donations now.

People can go to https://makeagift.ucsf.edu. Include with donation "PRIME-US Scholarship Fund, in memory of Joe Hernandez.

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