Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., has worked for more than 30 years to reduce chronic disease and cancer health disparities affecting Latinos.
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Contact: Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579

SAN ANTONIO (March 23, 2010) — Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., has been named the 2010 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)-Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lecturer.

Dr. Ramirez is a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The AACR lectureship annually recognizes an outstanding investigator who has made meritorious contributions to the field of cancer research and who has, by leadership or example, furthered the advancement of minority investigators in cancer research.

Lecture will be presented at AACR national meeting
A longtime researcher and advocate for Latino health, Dr. Ramirez will speak about Latino cancer at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting at 4:15 p.m., April 18, in Washington D.C.

“I am extremely excited to receive this prestigious honor from the AACR,” Dr. Ramirez said. “For more than two decades, one of my top priorities has been to increase the number and quality of minority doctors and researchers engaged in cancer control and prevention. As the U.S. continues to grow more diverse, it will take a more diverse medical, social and behavioral research field to successfully reduce and prevent cancer among these minority populations.”

Reducing health disparities
Dr. Ramirez has spent more than 30 years directing programs focused on human and organizational communication to reduce chronic disease and cancer health disparities affecting Latinos. In 2007 she was elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies.

At the Health Science Center, Dr. Ramirez leads the IHPR, which researches health disparities among South Texans. She also is the Dielmann Chair in Health Disparities Research and Community Outreach and the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Endowed Chair in Cancer Healthcare Disparities and Outreach at the Health Science Center’s Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC), a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center. She also co-directs the Cancer Prevention and Population Science research program at the CTRC.

Leader of national programs
Dr. Ramirez also directs Redes En Acción, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute to focus on Latino cancer research, training and awareness. During its 10 years of existence, Redes has generated more than $200 million in funding for cancer research, trained or mentored more than 200 students and health professionals, and conducted more than 2,000 community education events.

Dr. Ramirez also leads these other major efforts: Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children; an NCI-funded patient navigator intervention to improve breast and cervical cancer treatment outcomes among Latinas; an NCI-funded project to use patient navigation to increase accrual from the Texas-Mexico border region into pediatric hematology/oncology clinical trials; and a Susan G. Komen for the Cure-funded project to recruit Hispanic women into breast cancer clinical trials.

Dr. Ramirez received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Houston and her master’s and doctoral degrees in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health.

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The Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR), led by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, investigates the causes and solutions to the unequal impact of cancer and chronic disease among certain populations, including Latinos, in San Antonio, South Texas and the nation. The IHPR, founded in 2006, is based at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio with a satellite office in Harlingen, Texas. The IHPR uses evidence-guided research, training and community outreach to improve the health of those at a disadvantage due to race/ethnicity or social determinants, such as education or income. Visit the IHPR online at http://ihpr.uthscsa.edu or e-mail ihpr@uthscsa.edu. The IHPR also operates an online Latino health forum, SaludToday, which features a blog (www.saludtoday.com/blog), Twitter page, Facebook page and YouTube page.