10 Years (and Counting!): Latinas v. Breast Cancer



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 local Latina survivors who will celebrate a decade of cancer survival, triumph, and resiliency as part of the 10th anniversary of Nuestras Historias. Nuestras Historias, a 2004 ...

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#SaludTues Tweetchat 10/14: “Latinas and Breast Cancer: Surviving & Thriving”



Breast cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer of Latinas in the U.S. Let’s focus on Latinas and tweet about the latest progress in breast cancer research, the importance of breast cancer risk, screening and the survivorship experience at the next #SaludTues Tweetchat. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Latinas and Breast Cancer: Surviving and Thriving” DATE: Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014 TIME: Noon CST (1:00 PM ET) WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues HOST: @SaludToday CO-HOSTS: @SusanGKomen, @KPVivaBien, @KPShare We’ll open the floor to your stories and experiences as we explore: Why is breast cancer such a big issue for Latinas? What roles do culture, screening habits, and lifestyle factors play for Latinas? What are some of the best ways to improve Latinas’ ...

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Tweetchat Today (9/16): How to Create a ‘Culture of Health’ for Latinos



Editor's Note: #SaludTues is a weekly Tweetchat hosted at 1 p.m. every Tuesday on Twitter by @SaludToday, the Latino health social media campaign of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday and Salud America!. Latino health is vital. But Latino families face barriers to good health—lack of access to care, parks, healthy food, as well as more junk food marketing and sugary drinks—which contribute to high obesity rates. Today let’s tweet about the issues that impact our health and well-being during Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) and what we can to create a culture of health for Latino families at the inaugural #SaludTues Tweetchat. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “How to Create ...

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What the Heck is #SaludTues?



Please join #SaludTues, a new weekly Tweetchat series about Latino health (salud)! The series, which takes place every Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET (12 P.M. CST) every Tuesday, will feature any Latino health issue can be a topic for the #SaludTues chat, from heart health, childhood obesity, nutrition and physical activity, access to health care, education, culture of health, etc. Chats are hosted by @SaludToday, the Latino health social media campaign directed by the team at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and two co-host experts or organizations. When is #SaludTues Tweetchat No. 1? On Tuesday, Sept. 16, let's tweet about what we can to create a culture of health for Latino families at the inaugural #SaludTues chat and ...

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Ranking: The Top 40 Schools for Hispanics



What are the best schools for Hispanics to seek higher education? HispanicBusiness ranked the top-40 "Best Schools" based on the number of Hispanic students enrolled, degrees awarded, full-time Hispanic faculty and programs, and more. Of the 40 schools combined, Texas has 12, followed by Florida, with 10, and California, with six. "While these schools are obviously assisted by being in states with a large Hispanic population, they also have top-notch programs that ensure these students stay at home to go to graduate school," HispanicBusiness reports. "Many of them placed very high in the student-services part of our scoring." The ranking includes the top-10 in four school categories: graduate, medical, law, and business. Here are the top schools by category: ...

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Latino Researchers among Recipients of $8 Million in Grants for Cancer Research



Several Latino researchers were among those awarded $7.6 million to prevent cancer this week at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, thanks to the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the Health Science Center, the team behind SaludToday, was awarded a $1.4 million grant. Ramirez will develop bilingual, culturally appropriate social and mobile messages and channels to recruit young adult Latino smokers to sign up for a text-message-based tobacco cessation service. “Smoking is a problem among young adult Latinos in South Texas, but there are no culturally relevant programs that utilize Latinos’ heavy usage of social media and texting to help them quit," Ramirez said. ...

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Three-Time Cancer Survivor Brings Message of Hope, Prevention to Latinos



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 your anger and ...

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San Antonio Researcher Named to U.S. Minority Health Committee



Dr. Cynthia Mojica, a researcher at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, is among five new appointees to the Advisory Committee on Minority Health for the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 10-member committee advises the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health on improving the health of racial and ethnic minority populations. Members are appointed by the secretary for their minority health expertise. Mojica, who will serve on the committee through 2018, has extensive experience conducting research in cancer prevention and control. She has made strides to increase cancer screening and diagnostic follow-up, as well as obesity prevention, with an emphasis on ...

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San Antonio Researcher to Create New Tool to Persuade Latino Men to Get Screened for Colorectal Cancer


Colorectal Colon cancer awareness ribbon for men's health care concept with blue bow color in person's hand

Latinos are less likely than non-Latino whites to get screened for colorectal cancer, and are more likely to be diagnosed at harder-to-treat stages. Latino men, specifically, have a 17% lower screening rate than non-Latino men. That’s why Dr. Cynthia Mojica, a researcher at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, is creating a cultural- and language-relevant print-based tool to persuade Latino men to get colorectal cancer screening. Mojica’s efforts are fueled by a new grant from the Health Science Center’s Mentored Research Career Development (KL2) Program in Clinical and Translational Science. “The grant award will give me training, mentorship and research support to help me bring the community into the research ...

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