As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Salud America! is spotlighting some amazing Latinos. Dr. Helen Rodríguez-Trías blazed a trail for Latinos in public health. Rodríguez-Trías helped children as a pediatrician, spoke up for rights for women and those overlooked in healthcare, and became the first Latina president of the American Public Health Association. Let’s explore her career, accomplishments, and how her legacy continues to inspire Latinos in health and medicine today!
Dr. Helen Rodríguez-Trías: Early Life and Stepping Stones
Helen Rodríguez-Trías was born in 1929 in New York but spent much of her early childhood in Puerto Rico. At the age of 10, Rodríguez-Trías returned to New York with her family. Rodríguez-Trías would learn English quickly and did ...
This article originally appeared on preventcancer.org. During Hispanic Heritage Month, we reflect on the love and pride we have for our cultura. As we enjoy this month of history, celebration, and unity with our friends and familia, it’s also a great time to raise awareness on important health topics like cancer prevention. It’s no secret that cancer is major concern for the Latino community. Cancer is the leading cause of death in Latinos. Additionally, about 1 in 3 Latino men and women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Latino families must prioritize early detection and getting routine cancer screenings. According to the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s 2024 Early Detection Survey, “When cancer is detected early, it can lead to less extensive ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, leader of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, shared insight on cancer on a webinar from the National Cancer Institute. The webinar was set for Oct. 2, 2024. Ramirez's presentation focused on reducing US cancer for all people, including Latinos, through research, outreach, and training.
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 Population Health Sciences and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. She also is associate director of cancer outreach and engagement at the Mays Cancer Center. She directs the Salud America! national multimedia health program. The ...
Every month the Salud America! team at the Institute of Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio showcases the latest health news, clinical trials, research study results, and stories impacting the Latino community. Salud America! is led by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez. “Our mission is to inspire people to drive change for health improvement for Latino and all families,” said Ramirez, professor and director of the IHPR at UT Health San Antonio. In August, Salud America! helped celebrate an achievement in collaboration with Genentech, shared back to school resources, covered inequities in Latino healthcare and chronic diseases, and much more! Let’s take a deeper dive into some of the topics, news, and stories published in July that are ...
High blood pressure is a silent killer (el asesino silencioso in Spanish) that can spur heart disease and stroke among Latinos. We addressed heart health at UT Health San Antonio’s webinar, “How to Fight El Asesino Silencioso,” at 11 a.m. Central on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in advance of Hispanic Heritage Month. This webinar featured experts from UT Health San Antonio, the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA), and Genentech to share resources and relevant tools that Latino families and healthcare workers can use to help prevent, treat, and manage high blood pressure, also called hypertension. This is a part of a webinar series, “Let’s Improve Health in South Texas and Beyond." The series is a collaboration of the Salud America! program at the Institute for ...
Health literacy is defined by the CDC as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.” In today’s world, health literacy is crucial for community members and health professionals, alike, to make everyday decisions and achieve health fairness. However, many communities around the country face challenges to health including access to health care, financial instability, and housing/transportation insecurity endangering their health. That is why Jason Rosenfeld, DrPH, MPH, and Melanie Stone, DrPH (c), MPH, MEd are helping build Health Confianza – a partnership between UT Health San Antonio, The University of Texas San Antonio, and the San Antonio ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, leader of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, shares insights on health on a new episode of the CDC's Listen Up! podcast series for health communicators, by health communicators. Her episode is "Not a Monolith: Empowering Latino Health." She also shares the importance of Salud America! Salud Heroes, how to take action to improve the non-medical drivers of health, and how to build trust and wellbeing within communities. Listen to Ramirez's episode. See the full Listen Up! podcast series, hosted by Dr. Betsy Mitchell in CDC’s Office of Communications. "It's family, faith, and language that are key, important ... issues to keep in mind [when sharing health messages to empower people]," Ramirez said on her episode.
Dr. Ramirez & Her Health ...
You can help create a healthier future. Volunteers for registries, research programs, and clinical trials can help researchers learn how to slow, manage, and treat cancer and other diseases. “With improved research participation, researchers have more opportunity to create better prevention and treatments that work for all people,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. Here are seven research opportunities based in San Antonio and beyond to explore this month!
1. Latina Health Reproductive Health Screenings
University of Texas at San Antonio researchers are seeking Hispanic and Latina women between ages 50 and 65 living in San Antonio to comment about their last Pap ...
US Latinos and other populations made historic gains in healthcare coverage in the years after the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to five recent research briefs from the US Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). In the research brief focused on Latinos, research showed that the uninsured rate for nonelderly Latinos decreased from 32.7% to 18% from 2010 to 2022. However, the brief also found that Latinos are more than twice as likely as non-Latino Whites to be uninsured. Let’s further explore health insurance coverage among Latinos.
Latinos Facing Health Challenges
For Latinos, health outcomes are affected by factors like lack of health insurance, language challenges, and lack of access to care. “Studies show that people without health ...
