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IHPR’s Ramirez Weighs in on Latino Childhood Obesity Epidemic



Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, recently discussed challenges and solutions to Latino childhood obesity as a guest on “Conversations on Health Care,” a weekly radio show airing in Connecticut, Minnesota and Michigan made possible by the Connecticut-based Community Health Center, Inc. The show features experts in health care innovation and reform. Dr. Ramirez talks about the Latino childhood obesity epidemic and her Salud America! program’s efforts to reduce the epidemic. Dr. Ramirez has spent 30 years directing many research programs focused on human and organizational communication to reduce chronic disease and cancer health disparities affecting Latinos. Listen to the ...

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Latinas Can “Go Red” for Chance to Win a Trip to 11th Annual Latin GRAMMY® Awards



The American Heart Association’s bilingual heart-health movement for Latinas, Go Red Por Tu Corazón, will be returning to the 11th Annual Latin GRAMMY® Awards on Nov. 11, 2010, to bring the issue of heart disease – the No. 1 killer of Hispanic women – to center stage. “Too many Hispanic women are still unaware that heart disease is their No. 1 killer. In fact, only one in three are aware of the threat to themselves and their family,” said Dr. Luz Marina Prieto, assistant professor of clinical medicine for the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism for the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami. “Go Red Por Tu Corazón provides Hispanic women and their families the tools and resources needed to enjoy good heart health." Univision personality ...

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IHPR Reaches into Community to Raise Cancer Awareness



Reaching into the community to raise cancer awareness is a big priority of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday. That's why IHPR researcher Sandra San Miguel and promotora Guadalupe Cornejo worked hard to bring vital health information to more than 350 Latinos on Oct. 1 at the Consulate General of Mexico in San Antonio during Binational Health Week, a series of free health events across the nation to improve Latino health. The pair, representing the IHPR and the Lance Armstrong Foundation's LIVESTRONG campaign, passed out 100 brochres for the LIVESTRONG Survivorcare program, several “What’s Next” booklets and hundreds of yellow LIVESTRONG wristbands. Overall, San Miguel and Cornejo had ...

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IHPR’s Esparza Expands Role as Community Advocate for Minority Child Health



Laura Esparza, a researcher at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, already works with community groups to identify innovative ways to help Latina girls in San Antonio get physically active. Now she's taking on an expanded role as a community advocate for minority child health. Esparza has joined the Shared Use Coalition for the city’s Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative, which aims to plan and implement strategies to increase opportunities for physical activity and access to healthy food in San Antonio’s Westside community. The coalition is trying to develop shared use agreements that allow schools, churches and city facilities to be used after hours for exercise and play. Esparza also is a member of ...

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Latinos Get Skin Cancer at Younger Ages & Develop More Hard-to-Treat Tumors



While Hispanics have much lower risks of developing melanoma than non-Hispanic whites in California, they develop the disease at younger ages, develop thicker tumors, which are more difficult to treat, and experience a higher percentage of cases among people living in poorer areas, according to a new study. This finding, just published in the journal Cancer by scientists at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC), Stanford University, and the University of Southern California/Keck School of Medicine, follows a 2009 CPIC finding that melanoma rates are increasing in all racial/ethnic groups nationally, and points to the need for prevention efforts tailored to Hispanics. To examine the importance of socioeconomic status in relation to melanoma incidence and tumor subtype ...

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Lance Armstrong Celebrates Progress Made by Redes En Acción, Others to Reduce Latino Cancer



Cyclist and cancer prevention activist Lance Armstrong visited patients and met with researchers to discuss the Latino cancer burden in San Francisco on Sept. 21 in a visit facilitated in part by Sandra San Miguel, a research instructor at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday. Armstrong met with the researchers of the northwest site of the IHPR's Latino cancer research network, Redes En Acción, including researchers Drs. Eliseo Pérez-Stable and Anna Nápoles and promotora Marynieves Diaz-Mendez. Armstrong called his meeting with Redes researchers "incredible," and lauded the Redes/LIVESTRONG National Promotores Education and Outreach project. The project has identified and trained bilingual ...

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Childhood Obesity May Be Underreported



Parents, especially minorities, tend to underreport their children's weight, meaning estimates of obesity and body mass index (BMI) based on parent-supplied data may miss one in five obese children, according to research presented at the recent 57th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine. Researchers compared the measured height and weight of 1,430 children at a clinic with the values their parents reported. Almost half of the parents underestimated their child’s weight. Hispanic/Latino and black parents made larger errors than white ...

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Funding Opportunities: Childhood Obesity Research



Check out these funding opportunities in childhood obesity research: People’s Garden School Pilot Program The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is making available $1 million for a People’s Garden School Pilot Program to teach students involved in the gardens about agriculture production practices, diet and nutrition, and more. Applications are due November 8, 2010. Ladder to Leadership Ladder to Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Community Health Leaders seeks to help local, early- to mid-career professionals serving vulnerable populations develop leadership skills. The next opening, for Kansas City, Mo., opens October 18 and closes December 17, 2010. Active Living Research Grants Active Living Research, an RWJF national program, is seeking proposals for ...

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IHPR’s National Latino Cancer Research Network Gets $5.6M to Expand Fight Against Cancer



After a decade of success reducing Latino cancer through research, training and education, locally based Redes En Acción: The National Hispanic/Latino Cancer Research Network has received a new $5.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to bolster and expand its cancer-fighting efforts. Redes En Acción, launched in 2000, is led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday. Redes has regional sites in Miami, New York, San Diego and San Francisco along with its online network of more than 1,800 researchers and advocates from across the U.S. In 10 years, Redes has successfully tested novel interventions to improve access to cancer care and screening. It’s trained the ...

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