Ahead of the 2024 Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos Conference, 15 Latina women from across the country came together, unified by a common thread — to become a research patient advocate.
This gathering, on Feb. 20, 2024, marked the first in-person meeting of the Latino Cancer Patient Advocate Training Program, a new initiative to teach cancer survivors to become research patient advocates, who help others navigate the healthcare system and raise the Latino voice in research.
Patient advocates are critical to the goal of reducing Latino cancer disparities, said Dr. Barbara Segarra-Vázquez of the University of Puerto Rico, co-leader of the new program.
“You really have to have passion to become a patient advocate,” said Segarra-Vazquez. “It’s that desire to help ...
We know you care about the health of people in San Antonio. Watch our webinar, “All of Us in Alamo City Matter: Where You Live Impacts Your Health,” at 10-11 a.m. CT, Wednesday, March 20, 2024! The webinar explored the state of social determinants of health (SDOH) in San Antonio and how we can leverage the All of Us Research Program to promote health equity in health research. Some studies suggest that SDOH plays a role in about 30% to 55% of our health outcomes. This means that nearly half of our health issues are a result of our environment and life circumstances. Hear more from our expert panelists, including representatives from South Texas Blood & Tissue, Mexican American Unity Council, and Salud America! at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health ...
Why is cancer the top cause of death for Latinos? To unpack this question, Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio hosted the 4th biennial Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos conference on Feb. 21-23, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos drew 280 researchers, doctors, leaders, patient advocates, and students for an open dialogue on Latino cancer. Discussion covered new research advances on clinical best practices, effective community interventions, system-change advocacy, and professional training to eliminate cancer disparities in Latinos. “Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos is where we can come together and find equitable solutions for cancer prevention, treatment, and survivorship among Latinos,” ...
The All of Us Research Program is peeling back the curtain on its ground-breaking health data collection by hosting its annual All of Us Research Convention.
On Wednesday, April 3, 2024, and Thursday, April 4, 2024, the free virtual conference will give attendees insight into how All of Us data is being used to fuel integral research that reflects the diverse country we live in.
All of Us, created by the National Institutes of Health, is a historic effort to collect and study data from at least one million people living in the United States.
“The goal of All of Us is to speed up health research discoveries, enabling new kinds of individualized health care, with a strong emphasis on diversity,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, an All ...
At her annual wellness visit, Dr. Stormee Williams filled out a digital questionnaire that asked about her need for help with housing, transportation, food access, and other non-medical needs. Williams was taking an “SDoH Screener.” An SDoH screener is a questionnaire to help healthcare workers identify a patient’s issues with the social determinants of health (SDoH), the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of social, economic, and political systems that shape life. If a screener finds a patient in need, healthcare workers can then connect the patient to community support and resources. Helping patients address these non-medical needs can help them achieve better health. Williams, fortunately, didn’t have non-medical ...
You’ve probably heard the expression, “Get your steps in,” but just how many steps are needed to make a difference in your health? The average American takes anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day, which equates to 1.5 to 2 miles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, the CDC suggests that most adults should aim for at least 10,000 steps, which is equivalent of walking 5 miles, a day to maintain a healthier existence. If walking 5 miles a day puts a spring in your step toward a healthy lifestyle, just how many steps would it take to lower your risk for type 2 diabetes? A recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism looked at Fitbit data collected from 5,600 participants in the All of Us research ...
This year, over 2 million American will get a cancer diagnosis, including many Latinos.
As one of the leading causes of death in Latinos in the U.S., one in five men and one in seven women who are Latino will die from the disease.
Cancer also takes a heavy financial toll on patients, whose survival is dependent upon a variety of factors, including access to quality, often costly, healthcare treatments.
Let’s explore the cost burden of cancer, and what to do about it. The Cost Burden of Cancer
In 2018, patients and their families paid $5.6 billion out of pocket for cancer treatments, such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy drugs, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Americans spent a total of $183 billion on cancer-related healthcare in 2015 - an amount ...
Latino children accounted for the highest increase in severe obesity among preschool-aged children from low-income households, a new CDC study found.
The study examined children aged 2 to 4 under the enrollment of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which is a federal nutrition assistance program aimed at providing healthy foods for low-income women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or postpartum, and children up to 5 years old, from 2010 to 2020.
When the study began in 2010, 2.1% of children aged 2 to 4 in WIC were severely obese.
A downward trend in severe obesity occurred for the next several years, when rates in that age group went from 2.1% in 2010 to 1.8% in 2016, the CDC study found.
However, by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, that number spiked back up to 2% in ...
Edgar Muñoz, a statistician at Salud America! at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio, has won the Hackathon at VCU Massey Cancer Center's first-ever Catchment Area Data Conference on Dec. 7-9, 2023! The conference brought together data experts from U.S. cancer centers. Attendees shared best practices in data collection, handling, dissemination, and utilization, while exploring policies and methodologies to advance cancer center catchment area analytics and community engagement. For the Hackathon, Muñoz showcased the CancerClarity app (try it here) with his teammates, Alex VanHelene of Rhode Island Hospital and Nuen Tsang Yang of UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. The CancerClarity app offers users an interactive exploration of ...
