A vaccine can't prevent disease unless people use it. In Texas, only 39% of girls and 15% of boys ages 13-17 complete the three-dose HPV vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection that can cause cervical cancer and other problems. Dr. Deborah Parra-Medina has a plan to change that. Parra-Medina, a Latino health researcher at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, received a new $1.2 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to develop an professional education and community outreach program to increase awareness and uptake of the HPV vaccine among young boys and girls in South Texas. She and her team will train local health care providers to deliver accurate ...
Smoking is a tough opponent to beat. Quitxt is a new free service that turns your mobile phone into a personal coach to help you quit smoking, using interactive and entertaining text messages, online support, hip-hop music, and videos designed for South Texas young adults by researchers at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. The service’s text messages help with motivation to quit, setting a quit date, finding things to do instead of smoking, handling stress, using nicotine replacement if needed, and more. To join, text “iquit” to 57682. “Text-message applications have scientifically proven to roughly double one’s odds of quitting smoking, so we developed Quitxt specifically for young adult Latinos to capitalize on their heavy usage of texting to help them ...
In 2004, 26 Latina breast cancer survivors from South Texas shared their stories to inspire hope, comfort, and resiliency in a bilingual booklet called Nuestras Historias. Today, many of the survivors have new, heart-warming stories to tell about how Latinas can survive cancer and thrive in the workplace, school, home, and family on the 10th anniversary of the booklet, which was produced by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and her Redes En Acción Latino cancer research network funded by the National Cancer Institute. They vivacious survivors have been living in "technicolor," you might say. Indeed, check out a new story, "Latina Survivors Savor a Decade of Living in Technicolor," on Pages 12-15 of the UT Health Science Center's Mission ...
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 ...
Latinos in South Texas have the highest rate of liver cancer in the nation—a rate that continues to rise higher, according to a study from the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. For the study, published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, researchers compared the newest state and federal data to pinpoint current liver cancer rates and trends. They found that Texas Latino male and female incidence rates were 3.1 and 4 times higher than their non-Latino White counterparts, and South Texas Latinos had even higher rates. In addition, liver cancer incidence rates are rising across all groups. “This clearly shows that liver cancer is not only already higher among Latinos in South Texas, but it’s rising, too. We need ...
Minority women have low breast cancer screening rates. Even if they are screened, they delay confirmatory diagnosis and treatment because of costs, cultural and language issues, competing responsibilities, and more. That’s why Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, professor and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, is offering the Navegando Salud patient navigator program, which trains bilingual, bicultural community health workers to offer breast cancer screenings, education and other services to women in South Texas. Navegando Salud just received a one-year, $100,000 grant from the Avon Foundation. The grant was among 10 announced at the 12th Annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Houston on April 13, 2014. “We’re ...
Only 58% of Latinas in South Texas' Lower Rio Grande Valley start the three-dose HPV vaccine, which prevents cervical cancer, compared to 65% across the U.S., studies show. That's why researchers are testing strategies to improve HPV vaccination rates. The Immunization Partnership recently brought together several experts for a community forum to offer some of the latest solutions. For example, one study is using promotoras (trained community health workers in the Latina community) and student peer educators to engage mothers and daughters in South Texas about the HPV vaccine. This project is directed by Dr. Deborah Parra-Medina, professor at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the team behind SaludToday. Watch this video for ...
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. Starla Garcia
Houston, Texas Long-distance racing takes stamina and perseverance. Starla Garcia exuded these skills as a collegiate cross-country athlete—skills she learned from her father, who shelved his own dreams of a doctoral degree to take care of his family. Garcia is now employing perseverance to help underserved populations outrace the health problems they face in places like the colonias along the Texas-Mexico border, where she grew up. Garcia has been able to use her experiences and understanding of the Latino culture in the work she does as a member of the Hispanic Health Coalition in Houston, ...
You’re invited to check out the new revamped website of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, which investigates the causes of and solutions to the unequal impact of cancer, chronic disease and obesity among Latinos in South Texas and across the nation. The website now features: Additional areas for news, research and materials
Better organization for rapid access to research
Seamless video player
Social media integration You can also now sign up to get the latest Latino health news via e-mail. “Our website aims to raise awareness of our work to improve the health of Latinos, a diverse, culturally rich population that faces a higher burden of certain diseases than other groups,” said Amelie G. Ramirez, ...
