Emanuelle Dias: Using Research & Advocacy to Help At-Risk People

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Emanuelle Dias, a proud Brazilian who grew up in Florida, has seen cancer affect her mom and grandma, which has driven her to dive into public health.

Dias is a public health graduate student concentrating in public health education at the University of South Florida.

She wants to work with at-risk communities and believes that both research and advocacy have the power to make a true impact in these communities.

Dias wants to employ her patient demeanor and strong listening skills to accomplish her dreams of improving patient-provider communications and advocating for people in the community and sharing the human experience with one another.

To further her experience and education, Dias applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program.

The Éxito! program, led by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez at UT Health San Antonio with support from the National Cancer Institute, recruits 25 master’s-level students and professionals each year for a five-day summer institute and optional internships to promote doctoral degrees and careers in Latino cancer. A recent study found significant increases in summer institute participants’ confidence to apply to a doctoral program and academic self-efficacy.

“This program was incredible in giving us all the tools we needed to successfully apply to doctoral programs,” said Dias. “To me, it gave me the confidence to apply to a doctoral program and re-lit my motivations and passions to keep going with my academic pursuit.”

Editor’s Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2018 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program at UT Health San Antonio, the headquarters of the Salud America! program. Apply now for Èxito! 2019.