Contact: Rosanne Fohn, (210) 567-3079

(Left to right) Visiting at the Martinez Lecture are Dr. Hector Gonzalez, director of the Laredo Health Department; Dr. Marc Feldman, holder of the Joaquin G. Cigarroa Jr. Distinguished Chair in Medicine; Dr. Joaquin G. Cigarroa Jr., for whom the chair was named; and Dr. Carlos Jaén, who delivered the presentation.
Printer Friendly Format

More than 120 Laredo area residents, including 10 physicians who received continuing medical education credits, attended the UT Health Science Center San Antonio’s special community health presentation Sept. 2 on the novel H1N1 flu and seasonal flu.

The third annual Lilia Martinez Lecture, funded by the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Foundation, was held at the university’s Laredo Campus Extension. It featured a presentation by Carlos Roberto Jaén, M.D., Ph.D., The Dr. John M. Smith, Jr., Professor and chair of the Department of Family & Community Medicine at the UT Health Science Center.

Following the presentation was a question-and-answer session with Hector Gonzalez, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Laredo Health Department, longtime Laredo physician Joaquin G. Cigarroa Jr., M.D., for whom the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Foundation’s Dr. Joaquin G. Cigarroa Jr. Distinguished Chair in Medicine was named, and Dr. Jaén.

Several flu viruses circulating this fall
The novel H1N1 virus was first identified last spring in California and has spread throughout the world. On Aug. 24, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology released a national report assessing preparations for an expected resurgence of the novel H1N1 flu this fall.

“At this time, the novel H1N1 is not necessarily more deadly than other types of flu, but it is more contagious. This type of flu also is different from seasonal flu because it targets young people from birth through their 20s and most especially pregnant women, instead of the elderly like the seasonal flu,” Dr. Jaén said.

Dr. Carlos Jaén visited with some of the students from the Health Science Center’s Med Ed program who attended the lecture including (from left) Karina Paez, (Dr. Jaén), Ruben Garza, Juan Jose Martinez and Jenna Mahaffey.

Practice good hygiene
“Washing your hands often, sneezing into your elbow instead of into your hands, keeping away from people who are sick and staying home when you are sick yourself will go a long way toward preventing infection from both types of the flu,” he added. “Get vaccinated and, if you do get the flu, take antiviral drugs if your doctor prescribes them.”

Lecture funded by Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Foundation
Health Science Center Dental School Dean Kenneth L. Kalkwarf, D.D.S., M.S., who hosted the evening’s event, thanked Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Foundation representatives Deacon Larry and Maria Luisa Sandlin and David and Millie Slaughter for the foundation’s gift that funded the event and established in 2005 the Dr. Joaquin G. Cigarroa Jr. Distinguished Chair in Medicine.

“This was the first endowment established from Laredo to support our mission for Laredo and South Texas,” Dr. Kalkwarf said. “We are deeply grateful for the Martinez Foundation and to the late Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez for their leadership and vision to provide educational opportunities for the citizens of this region.”

The chair is occupied by Marc Feldman, M.D., professor of medicine and engineering in the School of Medicine’s cardiology division. Dr. Feldman, who has been invited to speak all over the world on cardiovascular matters, is co-founder of CardioSpectra, a biotech company based on technology conceptualized at the Health Science Center and UT Austin in 2005. He directs the cardio catheterization laboratory at University Hospital, one of the Health Science Center’s teaching hospitals.

# # #
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $668 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $16.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $36 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 26,400 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and other health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.