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Amelie Ramirez

I am director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. I have spent 30 years directing research on human and organizational communication to reduce chronic disease, cancer, and obesity health disparities affecting Latinos.

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Articles by Amelie Ramirez

Write a Medical School Oath to Fight for Social Justice!


young male doctor swearing medical school oath

Medical students start their journey to be a doctor with an ethical oath. But the classic Hippocratic Oath and other versions are missing doctors' modern obligations for social justice. You can use the Salud America! action pack, “Write a Medical School Oath to Fight for Social Justice,” to write your own medical school oath to reflect doctors’ ever-evolving responsibilities to address systemic racism, social justice, and health equity. The action pack has materials and technical assistance to help you connect with your peers and school leaders, draft a new or updated medical oath, and build support to address health and social inequities. "Writing a modern medical school oath can be a meaningful experience for students, and better reflect the evolving dynamics of the ...

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Volunteer for a Clinical Trial for Your Familia!


Volunteer for a Clinical Trial for your familia

Cancer and Alzheimer’s hurt many of our abuelos, moms, dads, and others we love. Clinical trials help us fight for our familia. Clinical trials are studies that help researchers learn more to help slow, manage, and treat Alzheimer’s and cancer for current and future family members. But without Latino volunteers for clinical trials, the benefits may miss this group. Visit our clinical trials page to find a clinical trial, read about hero volunteers, and more! “Latinos in clinical trials are not only helping themselves, but they’re also building a future with better treatments that can help their families in the future,” said Dr. Amelie Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research and Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. FIND A CLINICAL ...

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Health Care Workers: Find If You Have Implicit Bias & What to Do Next!


healthcare provider team dealing with implicit bias 2

Doctors have implicit, subconscious preferences for white patients over those of color, studies show. This is implicit bias. These biases — stereotypes that affect our understanding and decisions about others beyond our conscious control — lead to discrimination and health disparities. Fortunately, implicit bias can be “rewired” for compassion for patients of color. Download the free Salud America! Action Pack “Health Care Workers and Researchers: Find If You Have Implicit Bias and What to Do Next.” "This Action Pack will help you see if you have implicit bias, learn from others who have overcome their own implicit bias, and encourage colleagues to learn about implicit bias, too," said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Salud America! Latino health equity ...

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Abordando la Información Falsa Sobre las Vacunas y Generando la Confianza en las Vacunas


COVID-19 vacunas vaccine espanol

A medida que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 de Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna y Johnson & Johnson continúan distribuyéndose en todo el país, nos estamos acercando a la inmunidad colectiva y a poner fin a la pandemia. Un obstáculo en este camino es la desconfianza en las vacunas. La desconfianza en las vacunas es causada por una variedad de fuentes, como el trauma histórico por el maltrato en la atención de salud y la información falsa sobre las vacunas que circula en las redes sociales. La información falsa sobre las vacunas es especialmente peligrosa, ya que a menudo está dirigirá a las comunidades latinas y negras, que se han visto afectadas de manera desproporcionada por el COVID-19 y son las comunidades que más necesitan la vacuna. Repasemos las preguntas más ...

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Tasas de Casos y Mortalidad por el Coronavirus entre los Latinos en los Estados Unidos


Latina woman essential worker clerk store face mask for covid-19 coronavirus

El coronavirus COVID-19 puede afectar a cualquier persona. Pero los repores muestran que los latinos y otras personas de color se ven afectadas de manera desproporcionada, debido al deterioro de las desigualdades históricas. ¿Qué muestran los datos realmente? Tasas de casos de COVID-19 en los latinos Recientemente la población latina de los EE. UU. aumentó a 18,5%. Pero el coronavirus está enfermando de manera desproporcionada a los latinos. Los latinos representan actualmente el 28,8% de los casos de COVID-19 en los Estados Unidos, superados solo por los blancos (50,1%), según los datos de los CDC reportados el 16 de junio de 2021. Los datos por raza/etnicidad están disponibles para el 62% de los casos del país. Las hospitalizaciones asociadas con el COVID-19 ...

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Help Your City Adopt Smoke-Free Multifamily Housing!


smokefree multifamily housing child with no smoking sign for smoke-free multifamily housing

People who live in multifamily housing share air with their neighbors ─ including secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke contains over 70 cancer-causing chemicals, and has killed over 2.5 million people. The dangers are especially serious in multifamily housing, where secondhand smoke can travel through doorways, halls, windows, ventilation systems, electrical outlets, and gaps around fixtures. Download the Salud America! Action Pack “Help Your City Adopt Smoke-Free Multifamily Housing!” The action pack will help you engage local leaders in exploring a smoke-free multifamily housing policy for common areas and individual units. "Experts say a smoke-free multifamily housing policy can protect the health of tenants and staff of apartments from secondhand smoke, as well as ...

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New $9.8 Million Study is 1st to Seek Full Understanding of the Latino Cancer Survivorship Journey


New $9.8 Million Study is 1st to Seek Full Understanding of the Latino Cancer Survivorship Journey

Latinos with cancer face a tough survivorship journey. Many suffer advanced disease, poor quality of life, and stressful social and economic inequities. This is why a new, first-of-its-kind national cohort study will unpack the social, cultural, behavioral, psychosocial, biological, and medical influences on post-cancer life in Latino cancer survivors to fill a crucial gap in knowledge about their survivorship experience. The study, “Avanzando Caminos (Leading Pathways): The Hispanic/Latino Cancer Survivorship Study,” is funded by a 6-year, $9.8-million grant from the National Cancer Institute that will team up two of its Cancer Centers, the Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of ...

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Find Out If You Have Implicit Bias and What to Do Next!


implicit bias test with diverse faces in head and brain

Many people think they harbor no bias toward other people. Or they believe they know their biases and don’t act on them. But everyone has implicit bias. Implicit biases are stereotypes that affect our actions and decisions about others, beyond our conscious control. Fortunately, these biases also can be “rewired” toward more compassion for others. Download the free Salud America! Action Pack “Find Out If You Have Implicit Bias and What to Do Next.” This Action Pack will help you see if you have implicit bias, learn from others who have overcome their own implicit bias, and also encourage others to learn about implicit bias, too. GET THE ACTION PACK! Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, created this Action Pack. With the ...

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