Daniel Carlos Hughes thought he wanted to be a chemical engineer. He worked at Dow Chemical for 23 years, moving up to a middle management position. But then he had a midlife crisis. Now he works as a kinesiologist focuses on sport and exercise psychology. He researches holistic interventions for cancer prevention and with an emphasis on exercise and stress in Latina breast cancer survivors as a faculty member of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. While the career switch was risky and required many years of schooling, Hughes is glad to have found a calling where he can help cancer survivors live longer, fitter, better lives.
Hughes, a First Generation Mexican American in His Second Career
Hughes was born in Mexico City. His family ...
Cancer affects different people differently. For Latinos, the cancer survivorship journey is shaped by cultural and spiritual beliefs. Latinos also face struggles with barriers to care, screening, clinical trial participation, and patient-doctor communication. This is the focus of a new Spanish-language Facebook Live event, “Supervivencia: Viviendo a través y más allá del cáncer," set for 6-7:30 p.m. CST Monday, May 19, 2021. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) South Texas Chapter is sponsoring the event. Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio will host the event on its Facebook page. Register here for the Facebook Live event. The event will feature: Dr. José Cruz, MD, is a hematology and oncology expert with the Methodist Healthcare's Adult Blood and Marrow ...
In clinical trials, researchers test life-saving treatments and find ways to prevent and manage disease. But Latinos don't often participate in research. They account for less than 10% of people in federal cancer clinical trials. This makes it hard for researchers to create treatments that work best for Latinos. This is the focus of a new webinar, “Addressing Clinical Trial Enrollment Barriers in Unique Populations,” set for 1 p.m. ET Wednesday, April 21, 2021. The event is sponsored by Fight Colorectal Cancer. Register for the webinar. Panelists are: Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPh, is Director of the Salud America! program and its new project to engage more Latinos in cancer and Alzheimer's research (supported by a grant from Genentech, a member of the Roche Group), ...
Do you know fewer than 5% of Latinos participate in federal clinical trials? There is a historical lack of targeted research about Latino health inequities and how to address them, and a lack of diversity in clinical trials. Researchers thus have less chance to develop new treatments for this population, which suffers a heavy burden of certain cancers, dementia, obesity, and mental health issues. That's why we're excited to use #SaludTues on April 6, 2021, to tweet about how to increase Latino participation in clinical trials to prevent health disparities, to mark National Minority Health Month in April. WHAT: Tweetchat: “Latino Participation Is Vital in Clinical Trials"
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, April 6, 2021
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag ...
Historically and presently, Latinos are underrepresented in clinical research. Researchers want to increase diverse participation in clinical trials to ensure that Latinos and other underrepresented populations benefit from advances in public health and medicine, including personalized medicine. This is especially important amid a harmful pandemic that is disproportionately impacting Latinos. In hopes of increasing awareness among Latinos and people burdened by COVID-19, the National Health Institute's (NIH) Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities Program created a new series of bilingual videos on clinical trials about vaccines and clinical trials to prevent and treat COVID-19. "[Our] program focuses on addressing misinformation around COVID-19, ...
Across the board, Latinos are underrepresented in clinical research. Without adequate Latino and minority representation in clinical trials, researchers cannot find differential effects among groups nor advance public health and medicine. To address this, researchers across the country, like those at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio, are creating educational interventions to recruit certain racial/ethnic groups in diseases like Alzheimer's that are on the rise among minorities. "Studies should represent the demographics of the country," Dr. Jonca Bull, an assistant commissioner on minority health at the Food and Drug Administration, said in a recent statement. "We need to close that gap so we can better ...
Latinos face an uphill battle when it comes to their health. They suffer many inequities, which are worsened amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond that, there is a historical lack of targeted research about these inequities and how to address them, and a lack of diversity in clinical trials. This is the focus of a new webinar, "Conversations on Cancer: Latino Community—Achieving Equity in Cancer Clinical Trials," set for 1 p.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020. The event is sponsored by the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence. Register for the webinar. Panelists are: Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPh, Director of Salud America!, Professor and Chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences, and Director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research, all at UT Health San Antonio
...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! and the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, has been named one of the "The Cancer Health 25: Change Makers" by Cancer Health magazine. The magazine recognizes individuals who "make a difference every day." "They have each experienced cancer, either personally or through someone they love," according to the magazine. "And it has changed them, made them want to give back and given them a mission to make a difference for others living with cancer." Read about Ramirez and the other 25 change makers here.
Dr. Ramirez & Her Health Promotion Research
Ramirez is an internationally recognized health researcher at UT Health San Antonio. Here, she is professor and chair of the Department of Population ...
We are in the “golden age” of cancer drug development with over 50 drugs approved for cancer treatment in the past three years. But things aren’t golden for everyone. That is part of the reason why Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of UT Health San Antonio co-hosted the 2nd Advancing the Science of Cancer (ASCL) conference Feb. 26-28, 2020, in San Antonio. The conference united nearly 300 researchers, oncologists, physicians, community leaders, policymakers and students. While looking at Latino cancer, the audience strives for solutions that will work for all. "We have to ensure that cancer treatments—or intervention, prevention, and outreach methods—work for all people," said Ramirez, who directs the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. The IHPR ...
