“My Story Is Not a Cage; It’s My Compass”: Will Giordano-Perez ’04 Inspires NMH Community

Dr. Will Giordano-Perez ’04 stood at the lectern in Memorial Chapel, looking out at the students and staff gathered to hear him speak. Moments earlier, he had been introduced as the latest NMH Alumni Fellow, with a detailed list of awards, accolades, and achievements he has earned since graduation.

Giordano-Perez was interested in talking about a different topic, however.

“What I want to share with you this morning is the story of my ‘camino,’” he said. “It's a Spanish word; it means your path, your journey, your way. Mine had been about searching for belonging and purpose, finding my footing in places that I didn't know were made for me, and learning that success means very little without purpose. [It’s] about how a boy who once felt that he didn’t belong anywhere in the world came to find purpose and belonging everywhere.”

Now the chief medical officer for Fenway Health, a community health center in Boston, and an assistant clinical professor of family medicine at Brown University, Giordano-Perez returned to campus last week for a two-day visit through the fellow program. Supported by Ruth Stevens ’68, the initiative brings distinguished alumni to NMH to engage with students and faculty.

Over those two days, Giordano-Perez visited classrooms and met with student groups. His message throughout centered on self-discovery, self-care, and redefining what it means to serve.

 At an all-school assembly, Girodano-Perez shared memories of his childhood, when he experienced chronic homelessness, and how that instability shaped his sense of identity and drive to succeed.

“I still remember how terrified I was to come on this campus and interview,” he said. “I felt like an absolute imposter. Shame was something I carried a lot of back then: shame about being poor, shame about being invisible, shame about not being able to share what I really was going through with anyone.”

Despite his initial fears, NMH gave him his first real sense of safety and inspired him “not just to lift myself up, but to begin lifting up others.”

That desire inspired him to start Operation Happy Birthday club, which brings NMH students to local homeless shelters to throw birthday parties for children living there. More than 20 years later, the club continues.

“That became my first real way of feeling connected, turning loneliness into something useful,” he said.

A first-generation high school and college graduate, Giordano-Perez spoke about his time at Brown University and reflected on his work in Laos and Haiti, where he helped develop public health programs and found a mentor in renowned anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer.

“That experience redefined medicine for me,” he said. “It helped me understand that medicine wasn't about pills, [it] was about people. It was about humility and service.”

He later focused on expanding access to primary health care for historically marginalized communities in the U.S. Over the years, he has led clinics serving LGBTQI populations, people struggling with substance use disorder or housing instability, and immigrant communities across the country — most recently at Fenway Health.

He summed up his lessons from those experiences simply: “That my story is not a cage; it’s my compass … that success is not what you gain, but what you return … that rest and relaxation are not luxuries, they are lifelines.”

Giordano-Perez closed his chapel address by quoting poet Mary Oliver: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” he asked. “Whatever your answer, walk it with purpose. Walk it with people. Don't walk alone.”

Giordano-Perez also joined several classes for conversations with students, including Global Ethics and Climate Change, where he reflected on his experiences in health care.

“We each have a moral compass within us that is rooted in our values,” he told students. “Those values can change 100%, but that moral compass is going to be anchored to what your values are. As long as you follow that, the work you do will make a difference.”

Danah Daley ’26 said she could relate to his story on multiple levels.

“It’s just being grateful for the small things,” Daley said. “Everyone goes through their own journey. As long as you know you're doing your best and you're working hard, it's going to pay off.”

In a Bioethics class, Giordano-Pereze urged students not to equate success with external validation or material gain.

“It's not a weakness to take time to rest as a leader: It's what allows me to actually lead as a human,” he said.

Afterward, Giordano-Perez met with members of Operation Happy Birthday, Active Hearts, which focuses on community health education and compassionate care initiatives, and For Medics, an NMH club for students interested in the health professions. He ended his visit with a Diversity and Social Justice seminar in the Office of Multicultural Affairs, where he led a conversation on equity, privilege, and the meaning of service.

Nevaeh Gray-Ortega ’28, who stayed behind after class to chat with Giordano-Perez, said that his time on campus left her contemplating her own life experiences, the ways she’s grown at NMH, and how to leverage her privilege into helping others.

The opportunity to meet alumni like Giordano-Perez adds depth to her NMH experience, Gray-Ortega said.

“[I’m] thinking of all of the possibilities and all of the people that have come here, what they've gone on to do, and the fact that they're willing to come back and share that with us,” she said. “Because they're all so different. ... Being able to think about how people go through that, what they feel, and how it intertwines with their everyday life is such a cool thing to me.”

Ultimately, Giordano-Perez’s message was one of abiding gratitude — for the experiences that shaped him, for those who helped along the way, and for the school that gave him the chance to walk his own camino.

“NMH gave me a chance without knowing who I was or what I would do with that,” he said. “Without that safety … I could never have begun thinking outside of my own self or started giving back and creating access for other people.”

— Max Hunt

Photos by Matthew Cavanaugh Photography. See more scenes from Giordano-Perez's visit on Flickr.