Dr. Amelie Ramirez Named to Influential Board of Directors

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Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind Salud America!, has been elected to the board of directors for C-Change, a national organization that aims to leverage the expertise of leaders from government, business and nonprofit sectors of society to eliminate cancer as a major health problem as soon as possible.

Founded in 1998, C-Change’s approaches cancer as a societal burden that everyone bears the responsibility for addressing.

C-Change’s 150 members identify opportunities for collective action and apply the group’s unique strength—the collective expertise and resources of leaders from the three sectors of society—to accelerate action to end cancer.

The group’s 22-member board of directors is elected to staggered three-year terms by a vote of the entire C-Change membership, including former President George H.W. Bush, cyclist Lance Armstrong, TV personalities Larry King and Paula Zahn, former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins and more.

Ramirez will serve from Jan. 1, 2012, to 2015.

“I am honored by this tremendous distinction from some of the key leaders in our nation’s fight against cancer,” Dr. Ramirez said. “I’m excited to be able to bring to the group my focus on the health and quality of life of disadvantaged populations, especially underserved Latinos.”

Dr. Ramirez has directed many research programs focused on human and organizational communication to reduce Latino cancer health disparities in cancer risk factors, clinical trial accrual and healthy lifestyles. Her projects have led to unique health communication models and interventions that have contributed to reduced Latino cancer rates and increased cancer screening among Latinos. She also is associate director of health disparities and the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Endowed Chair in Cancer Healthcare Disparities and Outreach at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC), the Health Science Center’s National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center. She also is a board member for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Avon Foundation for Women.

See a list of all C-Change board members here and overall members here.