Step 1: Innovative cancer education. Step 2: Cancer screening. Step 3: Catching cancer at early, treatable stages. That’s the life-saving idea behind Salud San Antonio!, a new $2 million research project led by Dr. Cynthia Mojica, assistant professor at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Salud San Antonio! will partner with several community groups and employ community health workers—also known as promotoras—to teach Latinos in low-income, health-problematic areas on the city’s West and South sides about breast, cervical and colorectal cancer and the benefits of cancer screening. After promotoras teach, they’ll refer Latinos for cancer screening and even help with travel to appointments, interpreting medical forms and ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. Marievelisse Soto-Salgado
Puerto Rico Marievelisse Soto-Salgado grew up dedicated to solving public health problems in what she calls “La Isla del Encanto”—her hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico. She got her passion for science and research through her time obtaining a bachelor’s degree in general sciences and a master’s degree in public health. She’s even been working for several years with a team of researchers at the University of Puerto Rico on a National Cancer Institute-funded cancer research project, and she coordinates a Biostatistics and Bioinformatics ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. Laura Reyes
San Antonio, Texas Laura Reyes is a native South Texan who developed a thirst for knowledge early in life, often visiting the library as a child with her mother, who was going through grad school. As she continued to seek knowledge, her interest in science and the human body grew, and she eventually attended Loyola New Orleans University. Then the Hurricane Katrina disaster brought her back to San Antonio—a fortuitous transfer to St. Mary’s University that eventually got her interested in research techniques. Reyes now is a master’s of public health ...
Marynieves Diaz-Mendez has been selected as the 2011 LIVESTRONG Promotora of the Year. Diaz-Mendez, a trained physician in her native Cuba, is a promotora—or trained community health educator—who has been working with Redes En Acción in the California Bay Area to increase Latino cancer survivors’ access to and knowledge of LIVESTRONG national navigation services. Redes En Acción is a national Latino cancer research network led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday. LIVESTRONG, founded by cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, connects cancer patients and survivors to the support they need, leverages funding and resources to spur innovation and engages communities and leaders to drive ...
You now have until March 9, 2012, to apply for the 2012 Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program! Éxito! conducts a five-day summer institute and offers $2,000 internships to encourage minority master’s-level students and master’s trained health professionals to pursue a doctoral degree and a career in Latino cancer health disparities research. The 2012 summer institute is June 7-12, 2012, in San Antonio, Texas. Éxito! participants also are eligible to receive one of six paid internships (see details in application). How exactly can the program benefit you? Ask Mariana Arevalo, a graduate of the 2011 Éxito! program: “Éxito! was a boost of confidence and a tremendous encouragement for me to apply to doctoral programs. Now more than ever, I’m confident ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. Edianys Arlyn Velez
El Paso, Texas Edianys Arlyn Velez developed a passion for helping others from the constant support of her parents and her childhood experiences with family members diagnosed with cancer. Her passion particularly applies to women’s health issues. That’s why Velez currently is a master’s degree student at the University of Texas School of Public Health regional campus in El Paso, Texas, where she also coordinates a study investigating the genetic and environmental determinants of maternal and neonatal adverse pregnancy outcomes in El Paso. Velez ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. Rebecca Adeigbe
San Antonio, Texas Rebecca Adeigbe grew up in South Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley, a predominantly Latino region that often lacks basic infrastructure—like streets and running water—and also lacks doctors and public health services. Seeing these conditions spurred her desire to help those underserved through a career in health. Adeigbe now is working on her master’s degree in health and kinesiology at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and also is a research area specialist at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. Rosalie Aguilar
San Antonio, Texas Rosalie Aguilar grew up along the Texas-Mexico border and volunteered her time working in migrant worker clinics, an experience that spawned her interest in public and world health issues. She dreamed of finding a way to help many people. Originally this dream led Aguilar to envision a career in the medical field, but she soon discovered the abundance of possibilities that exist in public health, and she is currently pursuing her master’s degree in health and Kinesiology at the University of Texas at San Antonio—all with the ...
Editor's Note: This is the testimonial of a graduate of the 2011 Summer Institute of Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training. Read more testimonials here or apply by March 1 for the 2012 Èxito! program. David Irizarry
McAllen, Texas David Irizarry wasn’t sure where his career path was heading. With a background in political science and biology, he eventually decided to pursue a master’s degree in public health at the Texas A&M Health Science Center’s School of Rural Public Health in McAllen, Texas, where he also works as an administrative intern at a local hospital and a research assistant on campus. To further refine his career path and learn about doctoral programs, he joined Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training—which aims to increase ...
