About the Author
Enriqueta Cartagena Mayuga was born in the Philippines on December 18, 1937.  She obtained her medical degree from the University of Santo Tomas.  Her residency and fellowship training was at Harlem Hospital, Rochester General Hospital, and at the University of Texas in San Antonio.  She is a diplomate in Obstetrics/Gynecology and has been in private medical practice for more than three decades.

Her parents, Dr. Joaquin Cartagena, a pioneering physician, and Rosario Vendivil, a pharmacist and leading educator, were political and public figures.  She is the youngest of five siblings.

Having lived through the remnants of the Second World War, some of the episodes in her book, Immigrant at Peace – A Woman Physician Reflects, published in 1997, bear her impressions and experiences.  As a medical physician in training at the heart of the civil rights struggle, her medical odyssey has spanned a 34-year period, culminating in her private practice in Pasco, Washington. 

Her second book, Spring, Autumn, Sunset, an inspirational book published by Black Forest Press, was launched at Barnes and Nobel in Kennewick, Washington in January, 2001.  In April 2001, she was chosen as the poet of the month at the Barnes and Nobel, Tukwila, Washington branch.  She has appeared in Los Angeles and New York City for signings and readings.  Her poems are published in seven different books on anthology in the United States.  In 2001, her poem, “America Is Not For All” was professionally recorded as one of 33 poems included in the CD series produced by the International Library of Poetry.
           
Her current book, Outspoken and Muted: American Life, reflects her contemporary view of life in America culminating in September 11, 2001.  She also reflects on Philippine politics and ongoing challenges in her homeland. 

She lives with her husband Simeon in Pasco, Washington and has three grown children and three grandchildren.  She still has an OB/GYN practice and works as a consultant with a minority health clinic.