Achieving the American Dream: The first chapter
Achieving the American Dream: The first chapter
Her mantra is she’s a Cuban immigrant by birth, American by choice.
Zuleidy “Zuly” Fernandez has hit another milestone.
Fernandez — DMD, MS, board-certified periodontist, implant surgeon and founder of the Dental Medicine Center in Cape Coral, — is celebrating a year of building a family-owned periodontal and implant surgery practice.
Since the practice opened in October 2025, Fernandez has not only shared her medical expertise with patients but also held monthly presentations on diverse topics to educate area hygienists and medical colleagues.
“I want to be a source of inspiration for others by sharing my educational experiences with my community,” Fernandez said. “My practice is a combination of world-class dental expertise and artistic vision where each patient’s care is informed by my deep understanding of resilience, compassion, and the healing power of both medicine and music.”
Fernandez keeps her memories close.
She has a mentor wall in her office and reflects on it daily. It highlights her core values and the people who have shaped her life.
One standout is Kenneth Walker, the former university president from her undergraduate days at Edison State College, now Florida SouthWestern State College. He’s now 91 and the two meet for lunch monthly.
“Dr. Walker will always be my mentor and lifelong teacher,” she said. “Whenever I’m having a rough day, I look at my mentor wall and ask, ‘What would Dr. Walker do?'”
The road to medicine and cutting-edge dentistry wasn’t easy. So, when she talks about her life, she is forever grateful to her parents for giving her a new life.
Her struggles began young. Memories of being in an overcrowded wooden boat with her mother and father still linger. In 1989, when she was 7, her family fled Cuban life, the only life they knew, and entered the United States not yet able to speak English.
Friends helped along their journey.
Her dad, Ernesto Fernandez, MD, was an anesthesiologist in Cuba.
He became a hospital dishwasher.
He went on to study and became a physician again.
Her mother, Rosaura Palermo, was a successful attorney in Cuba.
She became a secretary.
She now lives in Cape Coral and is a commercial and residential Realtor.
Fernandez vividly remembers how welcome she felt the minute she stepped on U.S. soil.
“I had a hot shower, a nice meal, and was given my first Barbie doll,” Fernandez said. “I found refuge learning to play the piano while the family was detained for entry into America. Time passed quickly.”
The family lived in Miami. Her love of the piano and the arts led her to New School of the Arts to study musical theatre. Her mother says her daughter has no option B in her life.
“She’s a believer and resilient,” Rosy Palermo said. “She knows no challenges. I raised a fighter. She’s gone farther than we ever dreamed.”
Fast forward to 2003. Fernandez attended Miami Dade College, Edison (now Florida SouthWestern) and Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, earning an associate degree in biological sciences. From there, she earned her Doctor of Medicine in dentistry from the University of Puerto Rico in 2014.
Fernandez thrived in school. She remembers watching her father study medical journals for hours.
“I was curious about the things my dad would talk about,” she said. “We faced mountains of obstacles, not knowing the system and the language. So, my haven was creative expression.”
By choosing dentistry, Fernandez says she can immerse herself in creative expression and infuse it with art and music.
“I wanted a career where I could mix dentistry and art,” she said. “Where I get to transplant bone and rebuild structures. I believe music is good for the soul. Patients often enjoy piano music from my baby grand in the lobby.”
After that, she received her advanced education in general dentistry at New York University’s Lutheran Medical Center. In 2019, she went on to the Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medicine for a certificate in periodontics and biomedical sciences.
Her husband, Yassier Neher, serves as the chief operating officer. He often assists Fernandez in surgery. Neher has six years of dental experience.
The Dental Medicine Center is at 4636 SE 9th Place, Cape Coral.