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Climbing a Higher Mountain: A Radiology Resident Gains Key Experience at the CU Cancer Center

After serving as a physician in her native Honduras, Francis Garay Triminio, MD, has restarted her medical career in the Rocky Mountains.

minute read

by Mark Harden | June 30, 2025
Francis Garay Triminio, MD, presents a poster on animal imaging.

From serving as a primary care physician in rural Central America to supporting research at the University of Colorado Cancer Center Animal Imaging Core to a radiology residency at CU, Francis Garay Triminio, MD, has been on a quest to grow her skills and expand her horizons, facing challenges all the while.

“A friend of mine, a family medicine physician, summarized my journey as, ‘Francis, you were at the top of the mountain in your country, came to the U.S., came down the mountain and walked through the valley so you could climb a higher mountain.’ I thought, wow, that’s exactly how I feel, because it’s been very difficult,” Garay Triminio says.

The rural Yoro district of Honduras where she’s from is famous for tales of an inexplicable phenomenon called lluvia de peces, or the “rain of fish,” in which fish are said to fall from the sky during major storms. Garay Triminio’s career so far is less miraculous than that – put it down to things like hard work, determination, help from mentors, and a love of what she does – but it’s still very impressive.

After two and a half years as a research services senior professional at the CU Cancer Center’s Animal Imaging Shared Resource, Garay Triminio has matched in the radiology department’s four-year residency. Along the way she’s been adjusting to life in the United States while working to re-establish her credentials as a physician. Along the way she’s been adjusting to life in the United States while working to re-establish her credentials as a physician.

A perfect combination

Growing up in Honduras, Garay Triminio loved animals and dreamed of going into veterinary medicine, “but we didn’t have that degree at the time in Honduras, so I thought that the closest thing would be becoming a human doctor.”

She also saw the great need for doctors. “When I was growing up, there were just a few physicians. It was very hard to be seen.” She earned her MD at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras in 2017, then moved back to her hometown to work as a primary care physician for two years. She estimates she would see up to 35 patients a day.

Garay Triminio became interested in radiology in medical school. “Initially I thought I would be a surgeon because I love doing things with my hands. But once I started taking radiology as one of my clinical rotations, I remember sitting in front of the professor and thinking, ‘This is it. I don’t have to look anywhere else.’ It was a perfect combination of things I have always liked – anatomy, physics, and technology. I just felt very happy.”

That meant she would need to leave Honduras for training, she decided. “We had power outages and not the greatest technology there,” she says. “So, in the back of my mind, there was always that dream that I would go and train in the U.S.”

Garay Triminio had learned only limited English in school. “They taught us mostly basic stuff, like colors and verbs. But I learned a lot of English from music – song lyrics, a lot of ’80s and ’90s rock.”

Photo at top: Francis Garay Triminio, MD, presents a poster on the CU Cancer Center's Animal Imaging Shared Resource in a session at the Anschutz Health Sciences Building. Photo provided by Francis Garay Triminio.

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Francis Garay Triminio at her thesis defense during her last year of medical training in Honduras. Photo provided by Francis Garay Triminio.

‘Someday I could work there’

In 2019, Garay Triminio came to a place very different from tropical Honduras: Cheyenne, Wyoming. “Everything looked so brown, and I remember thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ because Honduras is so green.”

While working to further improve her English skills, she began her climb back up the medical mountain, from drawing blood at health fairs to working as a clinical medical assistant through the University of Wyoming’s family medicine residency program to operating a health clinic at a community college. At night, she studied for the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) in hopes of regaining her licensure as a physician.

She held on to her passion for radiology, and one day on a trip to Denver, “we drove down Colfax right in front of the CU campus. It was so huge, and I thought, ‘Someday I could work there.’”

That ambition was fulfilled in 2022, when Garay Triminio joined the CU Cancer Center’s Animal Imaging Shared Resource (AISR), under the supervision of Natalie Serkova, PhD, a professor and vice chair for research in the CU Department of Radiology). Serkova also is the CU Cancer Center's associate director of shared resources. The AISR offers state-of-the-art imaging for researchers investigating cancer, inflammation, and developmental therapeutics.

Garay Triminio’s previous medical training and experience “helped a lot” in her new role, she says, but she lacked experience with ultra-high field MRI and optical imaging, so she studied hard to learn how to use the advanced imaging equipment and understand the physics behind it.

Eventually, in addition to learning to perform MRI and CT scans, she trained researchers and collaborated on creating imaging training manuals and research protocols. She worked closely with CU Cancer Center members Rajeev Vibhakar, MD, PhD and Adam Green, MD, on cancer research projects.

Her dream program

Meanwhile, Garay Triminio continued working her way toward recertification as a physician. She passed steps 1 and 2 of the three-step USMLE, as well as the Occupational English Test for overseas-trained health care professionals. Last September she earned her certificate from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, clearing the way for her to enter a U.S. medical residency.

After an observership in radiology at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, Garay Triminio applied for the Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program at the CU Department of Radiology, under Rocio Perez Johnston, MD, the program’s director..

“I matched at my dream program, and I’m incredibly grateful to stay on this campus,” she says. She’ll start after a year of internship at Mountainview Regional Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

After her four-year residency, Garay Triminio can choose to enter private practice, or decide on a subspecialty – perhaps musculoskeletal, neuroimaging, or breast imaging – and go into a fellowship.

There’s also the fact that “I like teaching,” she says. “So there’s a strong possibility that I will go into academia and teach the next generation.”

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Left: Francis Garay Triminio, MD, doing brain scans in the CU Cancer Center's Animal Imaging Shared Resource. Right: Garay Triminio celebrates after matching into radiology. Photos provided by Francis Garay Triminio.

Achieving a milestone

Garay Triminio’s husband is an electrical engineer whom she calls her “best friend,” and the person with whom she shares a love for science. Through him she has relatives living up and down Colorado’s Front Range. One of her sisters is a physician in Honduras, and another is in Argentina training as a veterinarian.

As she looks back over the arduous path she has taken so far, Garay Triminio is particularly grateful to Serkova. "She opened the door for me. She’s the person who helped me come to CU Anschutz. Through the AISR, I was able to learn, gain experience, and reinforce my decision to pursue radiology. The combination of her mentorship, my dedication, and hard work helped me achieve this milestone.”

Says Serkova: “It has been such a privilege of having Francis in my team, seeing her growth, and supporting her in building and accomplishing her goals. It takes a lot of dedication, discipline, acquired skills, and natural intelligence to get into a U.S. radiology residency program, which is among the most competitive in medicine. As a mentor, I always cherish the success and achievements of my mentees – and, although I am “losing” Francis as a member of my AISR team, I am looking forward to having her in my department as one of our radiology residents.”

Says Garay Triminio: “I would like to thank the Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program directors, coordinators, and faculty for investing in me and believing in my potential. My rotation at UCHealth was very transformative and it gave me the opportunity to meet many outstanding faculty members and revealed a remarkably supportive environment. I look forward to training under Dr. Perez Johnston's leadership and mentorship.”

One last question: Does it really rain fish in Honduras? Garay Triminio chuckles when asked. “I’ve never seen it, but they say it used to happen.”

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Francis Garay Triminio, MD

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Natalie Serkova, PhD