Latinos are less likely than their peers to join potentially life-saving clinical trials. They often fear being treated like a guinea pig, are scared of being deported, and don’t trust doctors. Yuritzy Gonzalez Peña wants to change that. Peña wants to bust the myths about clinical trials among Latinos, and also boost community health by promoting beneficial policies and improved health systems. Peña, a native of Salem, Ore., earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in public health from Oregon State University. Because she understands the importance of evidence-based, practical, and multidisciplinary research, she is involved in many research projects. Her most recent projects have dealt with teen pregnancy in rural communities, chronic risk factors in migrant ...
"I hear demons telling me to be bad." "I need my medicine to calm down." "Mom has a new boyfriend, but that’s okay cause dad has a new girlfriend." Fred Cardenas has heard these statements from kids ages 6 and younger who suffer mental health issues. Cardenas, who has spent 30 years in early childhood services in San Antonio (68% Latino), said overwhelmed parents and stressed teachers struggle to deal with these kids. Health workers too often look for a psychiatric diagnosis to medicate. He wanted to help parents, teachers, and health workers look more at the context and relationships experienced by the kids. So Cardenas helped build a program—Early Childhood Well Being (ECWB) at Family Service Association of San Antonio. ECWB intervenes early for kids ages 0-8 ...
Sylvia Peral knows the value of hard work. The native of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, learned it from her father, and worked two jobs to put herself through college. Peral also knows the crucial need to promote healthier lifestyles among low-income Latino families, who often face issues of obesity and disease. That’s why she is working hard to boost Latino health. She earned her bachelor’s degree in foreign languages with a concentration in Spanish in 2015 and her master’s-degree in public health with a concentration in health behavior in 2017 from the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB). She has spent the past three years working on a research program to address Latino cancer disparities at UAB’s Department of Preventive Medicine. She’s also interested in ...
“You’re never done, no matter how old you are. There’s always more you can do.” Eliani Uc, inspired by these words from her mother, has made the most out of the many changes and challenges in her life. In fact, the Mexico City native moved to San Antonio, learned a new language and culture, earned a bachelor’s degree in forensic science at Baylor University, earned a master’s degree in health in kinesiology at UT San Antonio, and now is pursuing her passion for nutrition and health promotion. Uc is currently a clinical registered dietitian at Methodist Healthcare System in San Antonio. Her research areas of interest are nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics, and their relation to cancer. To further her training and education, Uc applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer ...
Access to free drinking water is not a given in schools and child care centers, although it is a key strategy to build lifelong healthy habits in children. Safe and appealing drinking water is particularly important to increase water consumption among Latino kids, who face more obstacles to being healthy, thus face higher rates of obesity and chronic disease. At the state policy level, drinking water availability in child care centers is governed by child care center licensing regulations, and drinking water availability in public schools is primarily governed by school nutrition policies, state plumbing codes, and school facilities standards. A recent study looked at state-wide policies in 20 states for drinking water quality and access in public schools and licensed child-care ...
For Elidia Tafoya, calavera—the Spanish word for “skull”—has a positive connotation. It reminds her that opportunities in life are abundant. Tafoya is certainly taking advantage of growing opportunities to study health issues and promote healthy lifestyles among underserved populations. After earning her master’s degree in public health from San Jose State University in 2015, Tafoya has worked as a clinical researcher at Stanford School of Medicine. She manages several dermatologic projects, ranging from investigator-initiated, to industry, and federally funded clinical trials to test new therapies for skin conditions. Tafoya also has served as an advocate on a diabetes prevention program to reduce the risk of diabetes and minimize health disparities. Due to the ...
When Maria Rincon moved with her family from Venezuela to the U.S., she owned one book. When Rincon started school here, many expected nothing from her. Little did they know that Rincon had the resilience to overcome the traumatic experience of acculturation, and she has surpassed expectations and excelled in academia. In fact, Rincon, earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences at the University of South Florida in 2012 and then earned a master’s degree in epidemiology at Yale University in 2015. As an undergraduate in Florida, she contributed to diverse research, from molecular epidemiology at the Moffitt Cancer Center, to molecular mechanisms of disease in Methicillin-Resistant S. Aureus (MRSA). As a graduate student, Rincon has focused on infectious disease ...
Erica Chavez Santos grew up in the small rural town of Pateros, Wash., the daughter of diligent farmworkers from Mexico. She saw the many health inequities suffered by her parents and local Latinos. Chavez Santos wanted to help, and she became interested in understanding why these inequities occur and how to improve health outcomes. She is now a master’s-degree student in public health in sociomedical sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, where she also is active in the Black and Latinx Student Caucus. She hopes to work with underserved Latino communities in hopes of boosting farmworker justice and creating equitable policies that set the stage for better health. Chavez Santos respect and empathy for other people makes her the perfect ...
Getting a college education is linked to better employment, better health, and active volunteerism and voting. In fact, people with a bachelor’s degree earn $25,000 more than those without. Unfortunately, even as Latinos are enrolling in college at an all-time high, they earn four-year degrees at a far less rate (18%) than their white peers (44%). A new report offers a solution: Latinos should enroll at the right school. The report, published by The Education Trust, found that closing the educational gap can in part happen by changing where Latino students enroll. Nearly 25% of all Latino freshmen enroll in the “most selective” institutions where most freshmen graduate. Nearly 30% enroll at more accessible institutions where a few complete degrees. In contrast, ...
