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San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff announced the addition of Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! and the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, to the COVID-19 Health Transition Team, which is working on a plan to slowly reopen the city economy after physical distancing.
Nirenberg and Wolff wrote a joint memo that stay-at-home rules have saved lives.
Yet they acknowledge physical distancing isn’t permanent.
“Our community needs a local strategy to reenter into everyday life,” Nirenberg and Wolff wrote. “These decisions have critical implications on our community – including our ability to avoid subsequent outbreaks, ensure we protect our … populations … and to identify parameters for transitioning into/out of restrictions.”
UPDATE April 29, 2020: Ramirez and the COVID-19 Health Transition Team have released A Guide to Reopening San Antonio and Bexar County, a multi-phase plan for reopening our community as safely as possible.
“This guidance is based on existing public health evidence, data, and expertise, and informed by shared values,” according to the report. “For safe re-opening, we recognize that our community needs more education about COVID-19, improved access to testing for COVID-19, and an expansion of our existing public health capacity for contact tracing and follow up. We also must focus our efforts on those who [face issues with the non-medical drivers of health].”
They will present the strategy to several working groups named earlier by Nirenberg and Wolff to recommend measures for long-term recovery, community rebuilding, and ongoing disease prevention.
Barbara Taylor, associate professor of infectious diseases at UT Health San Antonio, is team chair.
Team members include:
- Dr. Ramirez, chair of Population Health Sciences and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, as well as a local, national, and international leader in research on health promotion and public health
- Dr. Dawn Emerick, City of San Antonio Metro Health Director
- Dr. Junda Woo, City of San Antonio Metro Health Medical Director
- Dr. Ruth Berggren, UT Health San Antonio infectious disease specialist
- Dr. Bryan Alsip, University Health System Chief Medical Officer
- Dr. Cherise Rohr-Allegrini, public health consultant
- Dr. Tom Patterson, Chair of Infectious Disease, UT Health Science Center
- Dr. Carrie DeWitt, group manager and infectious disease physician
- Dr. Jason Morrow, Medical Director of Inpatient Palliative Care Services at UHS
Our team at Salud America! is digitally curating content about what the coronavirus pandemic means for health and efforts to help communities like majority-Latino San Antonio.
“We want to ensure the San Antonio community and national population gets a fair share of relevant information during the pandemic and beyond,” Ramirez said.
San Antonio City Council Member Ana Sandoval will serve as City Council’s liaison to the Health Transition Team.
Commissioner Justin Rodriguez will be the liaison for Bexar County Commissioners Court.
In addition, Salud America! curator Amanda Merck is a member of the Population Health Advisory Committee, a group of public health leaders working to provide advice and guidance on issues related to public health and the COVID-19 pandemic in San Antonio. They are proposing strategies for reopening the city as well as ways to provide more space for physical activity outdoors with sufficient space for physical distancing.
“The whole effort is to make sure that we can begin to enjoy some of the activities we used to but also prevent a second wave of this pandemic and end up in an even worst spot than we are now,” Nirenberg said, according to the Rivard Report.
“That has to be done thoughtfully, that has to be driven by public health first. So that’s why it’s important to convene medical professionals to come up with the rules of the road.”
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 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.
Ramirez also launched the “Avanzando Center,” supported by a 4-year, $4.08-million grant from the American Cancer Society. The center is a response to the cancer burden facing South Texas. Center research scholars and the community are teaming up to address health across the cancer care continuum by targeting non-medical drivers of health that prevent people from obtaining care.
In addition, Dr. Ramirez is a part of the COmmuNity eNgagEment for building Capacity, Trust, and Ownership of Research (CONNECTOR). The project, funded by the American Heart Association, serves as a community engagement resource center to support other organizations promote health across the nation.
Dr. Ramirez & Her Cancer Research
Ramirez also conducts research to reduce cancer among Latinos and all people.
She aims to reduce lung cancer with Quitxt. This bilingual text-message service helps young adults quit smoking, funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
On breast cancer, Ramirez is a Susan G. Komen Scholar. Her work has helped increase cancer screening rates and early detection. She has proven how tailored patient navigation can help patients get more timely diagnosis and treatment after an abnormal mammogram and improve the survivorship journey.
Another of her efforts is to improve participation in clinical trials.
Ramirez is enabling people to volunteer for cancer and Alzheimer’s clinical trials. She is highlighting open clinical trials, conducting webinars, and sharing stories of real clinical trial participants. This work has been supported by Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.
She also leads the South Texas site of the Avanzando Caminos study. The research study aims to enroll 1,500 Latino cancer survivors in South Texas and 1,500 more in Miami to help unpack the behavioral, mental, biological, and medical influences on post-cancer life.
Ramirez also has trained/mentored more than 250 people in health fields.
She leads the National Cancer Institute-funded Éxito! training program. This helps master’s-level students and professionals pursue a doctoral degree and cancer research career. Of 226 Éxito! trainees since 2011, over 27% have enrolled in or graduated from a doctoral program.
“We work hard to enable people take the next steps from a master’s degree to get their doctoral degree and focus on careers in cancer research and prevention,” Ramirez said.
Dr. Ramirez & Her Service
Ramirez is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
She also is a Susan G. Komen Scholar, is on the prize jury for the Fries Prize for Improving Health Award and the Elizabeth Fries Health Education Award.
In Texas, she is on the San Antonio Mayor’s Fitness Council and is Past Board President of the The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST).
Additional recognition includes:
- 2011: White House Champion of Change
- 2014: APHA Everett M. Rogers Public Health Communication Award
- 2018: Icons in Healthcare Award from CentroMed
- 2019: Lifetime Achievement Award in Health from the Society of Behavioral Medicine
- 2019: Bluebonnet Award of the Texas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
- 2020: CDC Board of Directors
- 2021: Heroes of the Fight Against COVID-19
- 2021-2022: Chair of the the Women in Cancer Research Council of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
- 2022: Outstanding Support Award from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education, Inc.
- 2023: Inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame
- 2023: Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) Cancer Health Award
- 2024: John P. McGovern Lectureship Award in Health Promotion by the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health
Ramirez also created the ASCL biennial conference series.
Launched in 2018 and continued in 2020, 2022, and 2024, the ASCL conference welcomes international researchers, physicians, community leaders, patient leaders, and more to tackle cancer from prevention to treatment to survivorship among Latinos and all people.
“We share research, experience, and action to translate basic research into clinical best practices, effective community interventions, and professional training programs to eliminate cancer issues,” Ramirez said.
In 2022, TV personality Oprah Winfrey selected Ramirez as a “Cycle Breaker” for her groundbreaking work to build public health. Watch the episode featuring Ramirez!
Ramirez earned M.P.H. and Dr.P.H. degrees from UT Health Science Center at the Houston School of Public Health.
She is a native of Laredo, Texas.
By The Numbers
142
Percent
Expected rise in Latino cancer cases in coming years
