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Update: Farm Bill Passes with No Cuts to SNAP


SNAP federal food assistance protect poverty

The Farm Bill cleared the U.S. House on a 369–47 vote after passing the Senate with a vote of 87–13, and cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are not included, according to the Food Research & Action Center. Past versions of the bill had contained a $20 billion cut of SNAP over 10 years. “The negotiators appear to have achieved a bipartisan compromise that maintains and modestly strengthens SNAP, ensuring that millions of struggling Americans will continue to be able to count on SNAP to help them put food on the table,” Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told the Washington Post. This is great news for Latinos and all. SNAP is proven to: Lifts millions of people out of poverty and helps them stay ...

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Why Are Fewer Latinos Enrolling in Obamacare This Year?


Health care Insurance cards total and dental care with stethscope.

Healthcare agencies are seeing a big decline in the number of Central Texas Latinos signing up for Obamacare health insurance through HealthCare.gov, TPR reports. This decline might be happening in other Latino-populated parts of the U.S., too. In fact, with less than a week before the sign-up period for 2019 Obamacare plans ends on Dec. 15, 2018, national health insurance sign-ups are down 11% through the first five weeks compared with the same time last year via HealthCare.gov, the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange. Why the Decline? Experts who have been following ACA enrollment closely cite several factors. According the latest reports, the Trump administration erased a Latino outreach guide from the ACA website. This violates ACA regulations ...

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Edgar Muñoz: Generating Stats on Latino Health … with a Smile


MunozEdgar Exito 2018 participant

Edgar Muñoz has a passion for uncovering multilevel aspects of cancer and disease among the Latino population in the United States and in his native Colombia. And he’s always willing to lend a hand and a smile whenever needed. Muñoz offers plenty of smiles and epidemiological support as a senior-level statistician at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. At the IHPR, Muñoz assists in developing research, conducting analyses, identifying and using available methodologies and databases, and preparing reports. He has a master’s degree in epidemiology, and he has participated in the design, conduction, analysis, and evaluation of complex public health interventions in Colombia and the U.S. His interests are design and evaluation of ...

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Jacquelin Cordero: Health is a Social Justice Issue


CorderoJacquelin exito participant 2018

Jacquelin Cordero grew up on the borderplex (Cd. Juárez, Chih., MX – El Paso, Texas, US). As such, she’s very conscious of the impact of economic and societal differences and how it increases the disparities in her community. Cordero views adequate, accessible, and available health services as a human right and social justice issue. With the support of her parents, encouragement from her sisters, and a little pinole to energize her, she wants to use public health to address important mental health issues such as suicide prevention and substance use disorder. Even after dropping out of high school, she has always found a way to keep going, and that includes currently working on her graduate certificate of public health and master’s degree in social work at the University of ...

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Rossmary Marquez: From Political Turmoil to Public Health Promotion


MarquezRossmary Exito 2018 participant

With a strong support network and a tenacious spirit built from escaping political turmoil in her native Venezuela and moving to the United States a decade ago, Rossmary Marquez is persistent in her efforts to improve people’s health. Marquez completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Oregon and graduated from Texas A&M with a master’s degree in public health. Her research interests include immigration, health disparities, and minority health. Before starting her master’s degree studies, Marquez worked for the CDC as an emergency risk communicator and was involved in the Ebola and Zika response. With the Venezuelan charm as a continual reminder of her roots and her path, Marquez goes the extra mile to talk with people about their experiences and how that ...

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Natalie Alfaro-Perez: Hard-working Advocate for Latino Health


PerezANatalia exito participant 2018

Natalie Alfaro-Perez wasn’t spoiled growing up. In fact, her parents already had her mowing the lawn at age 8, among other chores. This instilled in her a hard-working attitude and created in her a determination to achieve success. She has put those values to work as a public health student and health educator in a federally qualified health center, and she’s pushing for more progress as a health equity advocate. Alfaro-Perez received her bachelor’s degree in health science from California State University Sacramento, and is currently working on her master’s degree in public health from California State University, Northridge. In her work as a health educator, she is able to provide education to patients regarding chronic illnesses, and weight management. To further ...

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Ramirez Named to National Committee on Science Communication


amelie ramirez health equity in 2014

Congratulations to Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio! Ramirez was named to the National Academies of Medicine's Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication Research and Practice on Nov. 7, 2018. The committee's mission is to engage partners to advance the field of science communication. That means building a more coherent knowledge base about approaches to communicating science, making it easier for science communication practitioners to access and use research to inform their practice, and supporting individuals and groups in communicating science outside the scientific enterprise. On the committee, Ramirez joins other practitioners and researchers from groups like Pew Charitable Trusts, America Public Health Association, and ...

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