Rosa Herrera knows how difficult the battle with COVID-19 can be. Two of her daughters were really sick with COVID-19 in October 2020 and were hospitalized during their infections. Herrera herself got sick, too, but had a mild case. “It was really scary. I couldn't see them and since both of them were hospitalized at the same time, I was going crazy,” Herrera said. Herrera was initially afraid to get a vaccine. She was worried that it was produced too quickly, and that because she didn’t know what was in the ingredients, that it could’ve been microchips or something that would harm her family again─things she’d read on Facebook. But, after learning that the vaccine is safe, she ultimately decided to get a vaccine. She’s glad she did. “I'm able to see my ...
Jesus Larralde is ready for the pandemic to be over. He wants to be able to spend time with his sisters and his dad, who is undergoing cancer treatment and has a weakened immune system. He’s watched many friends, coworkers, and family members get COVID-19, and has seen the long-lasting effects it can have. But Larralde was nervous to get the vaccine at first. He didn’t want it to make him sick and was nervous about the potential side effects. Larralde decided to get the vaccine when his wife Lenea was offered the Pfizer vaccine through working at UT Health San Antonio. He’s glad he did because he can spend more time with his family.And he’s doing his part to stop the spread of COVID-19. “We need to learn, and we need to understand that we need to stop spreading ...
Jesús Larralde está listo para que se acabe la pandemia. Quiere poder pasar tiempo con sus hermanas y su papá, que está recibiendo tratamiento contra el cáncer y tiene un sistema inmunológico debilitado. Él ha visto a muchos amigos, compañeros de trabajo y familiares contraer el COVID-19 y ha visto los efectos secundarios duraderos que puede tener. Pero Larralde al principio estaba nervioso de recibir la vacuna. No quería enfermarse y estaba nervioso de los efectos secundarios posibles. Larralde decidió vacunarse cuando a su esposa Lenea le ofrecieron la vacuna de Pfizer a través de su trabajo en UT Health San Antonio. Ahora, él está contento de haberlo hecho porque puede pasar más tiempo con su familia y está haciendo su parte para detener la transmisión ...
Patricia Chalela has always loved working in public health and being a valuable member of a team. Chalela is an associate professor at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. Here she is an integral part of a team that studies how texting helps people quit smoking, trains students in research methods, and is learning the ins and outs of Latino cancer. Whatever the task, she is happy to help find ways to promote health in the Latino community, which suffers high rates of several diseases and cancer types. “I love what I do and I love to work with this team to make a difference for Latinos. It has been an amazing ride, really very rewarding,” Chalela said.
A Colombian Immigrant Who Came to Texas
Chalela was born in Colombia to a Lebanese ...
Daniel Carlos Hughes thought he wanted to be a chemical engineer. He worked at Dow Chemical for 23 years, moving up to a middle management position. But then he had a midlife crisis. Now he works as a kinesiologist focuses on sport and exercise psychology. He researches holistic interventions for cancer prevention and with an emphasis on exercise and stress in Latina breast cancer survivors as a faculty member of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. While the career switch was risky and required many years of schooling, Hughes is glad to have found a calling where he can help cancer survivors live longer, fitter, better lives.
Hughes, a First Generation Mexican American in His Second Career
Hughes was born in Mexico City. His family ...
From a young age, Flávia Fernandes wanted to practice medicine. Thanks to years of resiliency and dedication, she is now working toward a medical degree as a medical humanities student at UT San Antonio. But she’s already working hard to improve the health of her community. Fernandes, who is originally from Brazil, is part of the El Bari UT Health Healthy Choices Team — a group of San Antonio doctors, students, and community members who are creating and sharing healthy recipes online along with health education resources. For Fernandes, this is a life-long goal realized. “The work I’m doing now is better than what I dreamed for,” she said. “I wanted to learn about the ways doctors engage with the community and promote positive changes in people’s lives. ...
With over 30 years of working in mental health and disparities research, Margarita Alegría is what you might call an expert in the field. Alegría is the Chief of the Disparities Research Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor in Harvard Medical School’s departments of medicine and psychiatry. Last summer, she was named Harry G. Lehnert, Jr. and Lucille F. Cyr Lehnert Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair. Alegría has decades worth of experience in studying public health, mental health, substance abuse, and the social determinants of health. She’s conducted countless studies on how to improve the lives of ethnic and racial minority groups and people with disabilities. Now she wants to make her research more accessible to the general public. Alegría ...
Art can convey a story or a message. So what if you could use art to spark a conversation about issues in your community? That’s the question that Bobby Marines asked himself when realizing he could use his talent to lead important conversations in the Latino community. To find the answer, Marines launched Voces y Visiones, a web series that features Marines’ art to lead a conversation about hot topic issues within the Latino community, with the help of the Southeast Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) and Alliance of Chicanos, Hispanics and Latin Americans (ACHLA). “The overall goal is to use arts as catalysts for social and community discourse,” Marines said.
From Eighth Grade Dropout to Successful Visual Artist
It took hitting rock bottom for Marines to find his ...
When Eloísa Trinidad teamed up with New York activist Power Malu to help her community, she knew it needed to align with her values: ending the exploitation of animals. Trinidad is the executive director of Chilis on Wheels New York, a nonprofit with regional affiliates that focus on making veganism accessible to communities in need through sharing meals, providing food relief, and toiletries and clothing that don’t use animal products. She’s also the executive director of the Vegan Activist Alliance, a New York organization that fights to end animal exploitation. Together with Malu, Trinidad started Overthrow Community Fridge in New York City to provide nutritious, plant-based foods to people in need. By supporting her neighbors with healthy foods, Trinidad is also able to ...
