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We appreciate the doctors who take care of us and our familias.
National Women in Medicine Day, which on Sept. 17 during Hispanic Heritage Month, aims to recognize, celebrate, and amplify the women who are making a difference across medicine and healthcare.
We at Salud America! are excited to observe National Women in Medicine Day by highlighting seven of our favorite Latina physicians and health leaders!
1. Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez is an internationally recognized health researcher at UT Health San Antonio.
Here, she is professor and chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. She also is associate director of cancer outreach and engagement at the Mays Cancer Center.
She directs the Salud America! national multimedia health program. The program creates stories and tools empower its network of over 400,000 community leaders to drive healthy changes to promote health for all families.
TV personality Oprah Winfrey chose Ramirez as a “Cycle Breaker” for her groundbreaking work in public health. Watch the episode featuring Ramirez!
2. Dr. Patricia Chalela
Dr. Patricia Chalela has always loved working in public health and being a valuable member of a team.
Chalela is an associate professor at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. Here she is an integral part of a team that studies how texting helps people quit smoking, trains students in research methods, and is learning the ins and outs of Latino cancer.
Whatever the task, she is happy to help find ways to promote health in the Latino community, which suffers high rates of several diseases and cancer types.
“I love what I do and I love to work with this team to make a difference for Latinos. It has been an amazing ride, really very rewarding,” Chalela said.
3. Dr. Rebecca Jones
Dr. Rebecca Jones, who grew up in South Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley, is assistant director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio.
She has over 10 years of experience in program evaluation, research design, and statistical analyses. Her areas of focus include health systems research and non-medical drivers of health.
At the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, she helps with these projects:
- Leading the Creando Conexiones project to develop a research agenda that outlines patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (PC-CER) priorities.
- Co-leading a research scholar project on improving colorectal cancer screening adherence as part of the ACS Avanzando Center, which aims to address non-medical drivers of health and improve cancer care across the cancer care continuum for South Texans and beyond.
- Coordinating the Community Outreach and Engagement team at the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio, an NCI-designated Cancer Center.
Jones has a doctorate in Applied Demography from the School of Public Policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).
4. Dr. Flávia Fernandes
From a young age, Flávia Fernandes knew she wanted to practice medicine.
Thanks to years of resiliency and dedication, she earned her medical degree and is a family medicine resident physician at UT Southwestern.
Before that, Fernandes, who is originally from Brazil, was part of the El Bari UT Health Healthy Choices Team — a group of San Antonio doctors, students, and community members who are creating and sharing healthy recipes online along with health education resources.
For Fernandes, this is a life-long goal realized.
“The work I’m doing now is better than what I dreamed for,” she said. “I wanted to learn about the ways doctors engage with the community and promote positive changes in people’s lives. It’s been so nice learning and getting to help.”
5. Dr. Mirella Díaz-Santos
Dr. Mirella Díaz-Santos has a personal fight to end Alzheimer’s Disease.
Her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when Díaz-Santos was in school.
“I needed to know more about how this ‘disease’ can change someone who you love so much. How can it change it completely?” Díaz-Santos said.
Díaz-Santos is an assistant professor in residence at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in the department of neurology and psychiatry.
She’s also the director of research of the Hispanic Neuropsychiatric Center of Excellence at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and is involved with the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s within the Latino community.
Although she’s experienced bias and discrimination while pursuing her career, Díaz-Santos is committed to fight Alzheimer’s and protect others in the Latino community.
6. Dr. Trinidad Solis
Trinidad Solis often served as translator during her Spanish-speaking parents’ health appointments.
Her childhood interactions spurred Solis’ desire to become a bilingual, background sensitive family physician who could provide healthcare to overlooked patients like her parents.
With this goal in mind, Solis became the first of her siblings to leave her small farming town to pursue a college education.
She also earned an MD.
Solis also wanted to treat patients on a holistic level, taking into consideration non-medical drivers of health, so she went on to earn her master’s degree in public health at Johns Hopkins.
Now she’s treating the “root causes” of many of health problems among many low-income, Spanish-speaking patients.
“A lot of my patients were affected by obesity, diabetes, and infectious diseases,” Dr. Solis said. “As I spent more time with them, I got down to the root causes of their complications, which stemmed from non-medical drivers of health issues. For example, some patients couldn’t afford their medications, so they stopped taking them, which worsened their condition.”
7. Dr. Juanita Mora
Juanita Mora recalls the exact moment that inspired her to be a doctor.
Her mother had fallen ill with kidney disease. A young Mora served as translator between her Spanish-speaking mother and her English-speaking doctor.
“I remember turning to my mom and saying ‘Mommy, why does it take so long to see the doctor?’ And she turns around and says, ‘Because there’s not enough doctors who speak Spanish,’” Mora recalled.
Mora went on to earn her doctorate in medicine, becoming a highly accomplished physician and making a difference for her patients in their own language.
As a leader in the field of allergy and immunology and a fellow with the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA), she is delivering competent care and practicing infection control to prevent the spread of disease.
Improve Health in Your Community
How is the state of health in your community?
Find out by downloading a Salud America! Health Report Card for your town!
Enter your county name and get auto-generated local data with interactive maps and comparative gauges on several health indicators. This can help you visualize and explore local issues in education, housing, transportation, food, health, and more.
See how your county stacks up compared to the rest of your state and nation.
Then email the Report Card to local leaders to raise awareness, include the data in a presentation or grant proposal, or share it on social media to drive healthy change in your community!
By The Numbers
44
million
immigrants live in the United States
