Editor's Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2012 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply by April 1, for the 2013 Èxito! program. Jenny Castillo
Austin, Texas Native San Antonio resident Jenny Castillo not only cares about helping Latinos get off the couch and get fit to beat disease, she also knows the value of incorporating culturally infused methods of physical activity. For example, her passion for flamenco and folklorico dance represent an exciting way to bring Latino families together to get active. Castillo plans to put her passion for dance and her knowledge of Mexican American culture to good use as she pursues a master’s degree in health and kinesiology at The University of Texas at San Antonio. She expects to graduate in 2013. She ...
Latinos don’t know much about clinical trials, surveys show. Clinical trials are research studies in which people help doctors find new prevention, screening, and treatment options. New treatments that look promising, and have already been tested extensively in the laboratory, are then tested with patients who volunteer to participate. It’s especially important for Latinos to participate in research so that doctors can learn more about the types of cancer that affect our community and what treatments are most effective, says Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director and professor at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday. For those who speak Spanish, listen to Dr. Ramirez talk about the importance of ...
Editor's Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2012 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply by April 1, 2013, for the 2013 Èxito! program. Bianca Flores
Austin, Texas Bianca Flores, a third-generation Texan with Mexican ancestry, wanted to learn more about the Mexican American community. So she studied Spanish and Mexican Studies and, as she earned her undergraduate degree, increasingly identified herself with the many struggles people of color in the U.S. face, and the health inequalities they experience. Flores wanted to help Mexican Americans make positive changes, so she earned her a master’s degree in public health nursing from the University of Texas at Austin, and worked as a nurse and a nursing instructor. Now she directs health ...
Cervical cancer is the most preventable of all female cancers. However, Hispanic women have the highest rates of cervical cancer in the United States. Of every 100,000 U.S. women, about 11 Hispanic women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, compared to only seven non-Hispanic women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The good news is that cervical cancer can be prevented through vaccination. CDC recommends girls and boys receive the HPV vaccine at age 11 or 12, which can help prevent cervical and other cancers in men and women caused by HPV, a virus so common that nearly every person who is sexually active will be infected with HPV in their lifetime. CDC also recommends adult women see their doctor regularly for a Pap test and any necessary follow-up ...
Editor's Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2012 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply by April 1, 2013, for the 2013 Èxito! program. Paul Afnan
Houston, Texas With encouragement toward higher education from his El Salvadorian mother, Paul Afnan earned a bachelor’s degree in conservation and resources studies and made the dean’s list with a 4.0 GPA at the University of California, Berkeley. He knew he wanted to make a difference in people’s health. So he interned with a scientific agency in Managua, Nicaragua, where he enrolled children into a dengue/influenza cohort study and created a predictive model for patients with febrile illnesses. Afnan then moved from San Francisco to Houston, where he interned in infection control at Memorial ...
You now have until April 1, 2013, to apply for the 2013 Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program! Éxito! will select 20 master’s-level students and master’s trained health professionals from across the nation to attend a five-day summer institute June 3-7, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas, offering tools, tips, role models and motivation to encourage participants to pursue a doctoral degree and a career studying how cancer affects Latinos differently. Éxito! participants also are eligible to receive a $5,000 internship. Why should you apply? Check out this video to see how Éxito! has changed Latinos' lives. Éxito! is funded by the National Cancer Institute and led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the ...
Colorectal cancer risk among Hispanics increasing with acculturation, according to a recent study. Watch this new Spanish video featuring Dr. Jorge Gomez of the National Cancer Institute as he explains what tests are available, when you should begin to take the tests and how often you should have ...
Editor's Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2012 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply by April 1, 2013, for the 2013 Èxito! program. Melawhy Garcia
Anaheim, Calif. Melawhy Garcia was just 17 when her mother was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure and colon cancer—unfortunately giving her firsthand knowledge of the income, insurance and other barriers faced by Latino cancer patients. Since then, Garcia has put cancer in her crosshairs. Garcia already has helped conduct research and awareness on cervical cancers and other health conditions prevalent among Latinos. She emphasizes research on cancer prevention, obesity and more in her current position as the assistant director of the California State University, Long Beach, National Council ...
You're invited to join a free webinar March 12, 2013, to learn more about how systems and neighborhoods influence Latino cancer. The webinar, hosted by researchers of Redes En Acción, a National Cancer Institute project led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, is at 11 a.m. CST (9 a.m. PST) on March 12, 2013, will explore two global factors that can help understand mechanisms behind health disparities: 1) systems of care defining access in a broad way and how these may affect disadvantaged patients; and 2) research on neighborhood influences on health disparities, with a focus on different approaches to measure "neighborhood." The webinar will last one ...
