A regional health research program has unveiled a new website, membership opportunity, and scholarships under the direction of Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. Dr. Ramirez’ program is called GMaP Region 4. It is one of six regional GMaPs (or Transdisciplinary Geographic Management Programs) funded by the National Cancer Institute to bring together local networks of investigators to collaboratively identify and address health issues in regions across the country. GMaP Region 4 is enhancing local communication, recruitment, and evaluation capacity to support health research, training and outreach in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Wyoming, Utah and Nebraska. Join the program to learn ...
Julie La Fuente Louviere of San Antonio has fought—and survived—three bouts of breast cancer. She doesn’t let cancer keep her down. The wife and mother of two has lost weight, ran a half-marathon, celebrated 25 years of marriage, turned 50, become a grandmother, and watched her oldest graduate from law school. "Survivorship means I am able to wake up every morning and be a wife to my husband, a mom to my girls, now a glam'ma to my grandson and loving aunt and sister," Louviere said. "It means I can be an active part of the present and never take life's moments for granted." Louviere is among the 16 survivors in South Texas who will celebrate a decade of cancer survival, triumph, and resiliency as part of the 10th anniversary of Nuestras Historias. Nuestras Historias, ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, has received the 2014 “Regional Mujer Award” from the National Hispana Leadership Institute, a national leadership organization. Mujer (Woman) awards are given annually to those who serve their communities. Past Mujer winners include actresses Eva Longoria and Rosaro Dawson, Lidia Soto-Harmon, CEO of Girl Scouts, and Ivelisse Estrada, VP of Univision. “I am honored by this recognition for our multi-faceted work to reduce cancer and increase healthy behaviors,” said Dr. Ramirez.
Dr. Ramirez & Her Health Promotion Research
Ramirez is an internationally recognized health researcher at UT Health San Antonio. Here, she is professor and chair of the Department of ...
Alma Daneshi cried as she sat in her San Diego-area oncologist’s office, traumatized by past-and-present health battles that continued to endanger her life. She had been through a brain aneurism and open-brain surgery. Then breast cancer. Then breast cancer again, followed by cervical cancer. She had lost her job managing a TGI Fridays restaurant while recovering from the aneurism and taking time off for cancer treatment. She got evicted and worried how she would care for herself and her then 12-year-old daughter. Then she learned she contracted viral meningitis during treatment. Daneshi, sitting beside her oncologist, broke down and wept. But then she got some life-changing advice. “My oncologist let me cry for a bit before she said, ‘Instead of crying, put ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, has received the first-ever “Making a Different World” award from Latinas Contra Cancer for her dedication to improving health outcomes around cancer. Ramirez received the honor at the organization's 4th biennial cancer summit July 20-22, 2014, in San Francisco. “I am honored by this tremendous distinction from some of the key leaders in our nation’s growing effort to reduce cancer,” Dr. Ramirez said. “We are truly working hard to show how communities can reduce their risk for cancer, how to help patients navigate the health care system, and how to help cancer survivors.”
Dr. Ramirez & Her Health Promotion Research
Ramirez is an internationally recognized ...
Laredo native Jennifer Garcia-Davalos grew up on the Texas-Mexico border, where the population suffers high rates of obesity, diabetes, and certain cancers. She has always wanted to help reduce those health issues. That’s why Garcia-Davalos, an aspiring physician and a master’s-degree student in public health at The UT School of Public Health, interned at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. Over the past year, she helped the IHPR conduct research, mobilize community outreach, and inform, educate, and health in South Texas communities. “My internship at the IHPR gave me tools needed to succeed in my graduate studies and my future plans in the health and medical fields,” Garcia-Davalos said. “As a future physician, I want to ...
Arely Perez loves to step outside her comfort zone. In college, she studied and enjoyed kinesiology—the study of human movement—but wasn’t as familiar with how it translated to the health of the community. So, as a graduate student at UT San Antonio, she got jobs in the labs of Drs. Meizi He and Zenong Yin, where she learned all about public health and coordinated studies of local programs to improve nutrition and reduce obesity in child care centers. “I became passionate about improving people’s health, thanks to both Drs. He and Yin, who gave me great opportunities to expand my knowledge and skills,” Perez said. Today Perez is applying her passion for health as a researcher at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. She also ...
A wave of shock swept over Olga Cardona as she listened to her doctor. “You have breast cancer.” Cardona knew nothing about cancer. She thought it was a death sentence. She was scared. She worried more when her insurance wouldn’t cover all chemotherapy. How could this be happening to me? A patient navigator calmed her fears. The navigator, a trained community health worker, taught Cardona what cancer is, got her in a breast cancer support group, and led her to resources to cover her treatment. Cardona, years later, now is in remission—and she became a promotora to promote health at the San Ysidro Health Center in California, where she was first diagnosed. “I wanted to pay it forward because I felt so grateful to everyone that had helped me through my ...
Breast cancer survivors can now join a new study to learn how certain foods may reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. The study, Rx for Better Breast Health, is funded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure and led by Dr. Amelie Ramirez, professor and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. Breast cancer survivors who participate will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Each group will get different cancer nutrition tools, possibly six cooking demonstrations by Chef Iverson Brownell, who creates innovative culinary recipes that taste great and promote health (see his video). “We want to teach survivors the importance of a dietary plan full of foods with disease-fighting properties,” said Ramirez, who also is associate ...
