HSC NEWS - UT Health Science Center San Antonio

Dr. Martínez Rogers discusses ‘fiscal cliff’ at White House

Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2012

At the White House are (seated, left to right) Norma Martínez Rogers, Ph.D., RN, FAAN; Marco A. Grimaldo, CEO and president of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy; (standing) Julie Chavez Rodriguez, associate director of Latino Affairs and Immigration in the Office of Public Engagement at the White House; and Josephine F. Garza, M.A., executive director of the National Latino Children’s Institute.

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By Rosanne Fohn

Norma Martínez Rogers, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, is one of a group of leaders from the Latino community invited to come to the White House Nov. 19 to attend a working meeting on resolving the “fiscal cliff” in a balanced way.

Dr. Martínez Rogers is a clinical professor of family and community health systems in the School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

“There were 35 Latinos present,” Dr. Martínez Rogers said. “I was the only nurse and the only academician. Roberto Rodriguez, special assistant to the president on education policy, discussed the importance of educating Latinos about the fiscal cliff. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how we as Latinos can raise awareness and action around avoiding the fiscal cliff.

“As a group, we developed strategies for creating and supporting local actions on the fiscal cliff and taxes. We discussed the impact of the fiscal cliff to education and health care,” she added.

Advocate for higher education
“We also asked for more funding for higher education institutions and an increase in federal funding for programs that help Latinos complete higher education in health professions so we can better support the Affordable Care Act,” Dr. Martínez Rogers said.

National leader
Dr. Martínez Rogers is a national figure representing Hispanics, nurses and health care.

Among her activities at the UT Health Science Center, Dr. Martínez Rogers:

Founded Juntos Podemos, a mentoring program for nursing students that has a 98 percent success rate;
Initiated Muévete USA, community fitness and nutrition program piloted at the UT Health Science Center;
Began a summer health education camp for middle school and high school girls to show them a pathway to the health professions; and
Has received more than $4 million in federal funding to support recruitment and retention of students from diverse backgrounds in the nursing profession, as well as community health education programs to prevent childhood obesity and diabetes.

Her state and national leadership activities and awards include:

Member of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission that reviews Medicaid and CHIP access policies and reports directly to the Senate Finance Committee;
2011 recipient of National Association of Hispanic Nurses’ Janie Menchaca Wilson Leadership Award;
Recipient of a Most Powerful and Influential Woman of Texas award at the 2011 Texas Diversity and Leadership Conference;
Member of Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute panels in which she made presentations to Congress with Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard and Congressman Ciro Rodriguez;
Served as president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses 2008-2010;
Member of the Food and Drug Administration Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee;
Member of the national advisory council of the U.S. National Health Service Corps;
Member of the board of directors for the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurses Association;
Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the highest honor in the nursing profession; and
Chair and founder of the Hispanic Nurses Fund.