Wendy Ramirez: An Èxito! Grad Serving as a Role Model for LGBT Youth

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Editor’s Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2013 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply by March 7, 2014, for the 2014 Èxito! program.

Wendy Ramirez
South Gate, Calif.

Wendy Ramirez uses her outgoing personality to put her own stamp on improving public health.

She already has a grant for a research project, she has presented data at several professional conferences, and she hopes to offer support and a role model to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth.

Ramirez, who has a bachelor’s degree in health education and is currently working on her master’s in public health degree at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), is a graduate research fellow with the NCLR/CSULB Center for Latino Community.

Ramirez decided to apply for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program—which offers a five-day summer institute and internships to encourage master’s-level students and health professionals to pursue a doctoral degree and a cancer research career—to better understand how research can directly change cancer outcomes and to better understand the spread of cancer in certain communities.

After attending the Éxito! Summer Institute, Ramirez said she has increased interest in pursuing a doctoral degree and now had an expanded base of tool with which to apply to a doctoral program.

“After attending Éxito! I now feel confident that I can apply and send a strong application and get into a PhD program,” Ramirez said. “Through the Éxito! program I have learned the personal barriers I may encounter and how to overcome them. It was by far one of the best summer programs I have attended and the staff/mentors are amazing.”

Éxito!, a program funded by the National Cancer Institute and directed by the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, will select 20 master’s-level students and health professionals from across the nation to attend a five-day summer institute June 2-6, 2014, in San Antonio, offering research information, tools, tips, role models and motivation to encourage participants to pursue a doctoral degree and a career studying how cancer affects Latinos differently. Participants also are eligible to apply for one of five $3,250 internships. Apply here.