Service runs deep for Dr. Gabriel Onofre. For several years in the early 2000s, he sought to become a monk and dedicate his life to the Mission of Charity Brothers in California — working with Latinos in Los Angeles, and combining spirituality and social change through service.

But he first came to Atlanta as a doctor from Columbia in the 1990s. Before receiving his licensure as a physician, he served several years as a volunteer through Saint Joseph’s hospital. On the front lines of Latino outreach, Dr. Onofre mingled with communities along Buford Highway, spoke with apartment managers and restaurant owners about HIV risk, and even ventured to bars and other entertainment districts to seek out Latinos at high-risk of infection. In 2005, he applied for his Georgia license and got to work. After volunteering off-and-on over fifteen years, he became a full-time physician for Mercy Care in 2012 combining his passions for missional work and holistic health.

“The mission fits into who I am. I can attend to patient’s medical and social needs. We provide behavioral health and health education to help patients cope with the anxiety around poverty, financial struggles or being undocumented. And I can see that I’m definitely not alone; we have a group of people on the same mission. We’re an integrated team.”
— Dr. Gabriel Onofre, Primary Care