Dr. Vargas-Whale (Choctaw) is a Pediatrician and Fellow in the field of Child Abuse Pediatrics at the University Of Utah School Of Medicine. Raquel is proud to be an enrolled member of The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Her mother is Choctaw and her father is Quechua of the highland tribes in the Peruvian Andes, South America. She was raised in Venezuela and is fluent in Spanish. She has experience in working with Native and Latino communities and practiced as a General Pediatrician for The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma for 4 years. Her practice emphasis was in the area of behavioral health and child development. Dr. Vargas-Whale attended graduate school at the University of North Texas, obtaining a master’s degree in Psychology with an emphasis on child development and applied behavior analysis. She attended Medical School at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and completed her General Pediatrics Residency at The Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio. She is a member of the Ray E. Helfer Society, a Fellow of The American Academy of Pediatrics, and member of American Indian Science and Engineering Society. She enjoys her cultural mentorship role with Native America Research Interns at the University of Utah. Her research interests are in the areas of intimate partner violence and child maltreatment with special attention to Indian Health Systems.