Showing off some of the healthy baked goods they made at the Med Ed Nutrition Summer Camp are (front, lower left) Njideka Anadu and Linda Martinez, and (standing, from left) Josephine De Hoyos, Shannon Garcia, Renee Hinojosa, Agnes Hunter, Nancy Reyes-Galvan and Shirley Hu.
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Contact: Rosanne Fohn, (210) 567-3079

LAREDO (July 9, 2010) — By the time school starts this fall, more than 200 Laredo middle school, high school and college students will have given themselves a scientific edge by attending one of the UT Health Science Center’s Med Ed summer camps at the Regional Campus in Laredo.

Although most Health Science Center summer activities are coming to a close, the new school year will bring more opportunities to learn about the health professions through Med Ed.


One thousand students participated in 2009-2010
This past school year, the program offered 1,000 Laredo-area students year-round academic enrichment, community service opportunities, volunteer programs and field trips to the Health Science Center campus in San Antonio.

“Our Med Ed students get a close-up look at the medical, dental and other health careers that are in such high demand in South Texas,” explained Griselda Rubio, M.H.A., director of the Med Ed program in Laredo. “We want to work with them when they are young so that they can begin choosing courses that will help prepare them for a great career.”

Ruben Garza listens to Carlos Valdez’s heart during the Med Ed Physician Assistant Summer Camp held at the UT Health Science Center’s Regional Campus in Laredo.

Upcoming activities
In early August, Med Ed students will get a hands-on look at the emergency health services profession when Laredo Fire Department paramedics train 40 high school juniors and seniors in CPR and first aid. The students will tour a local hospital emergency room and shadow EMTs on their emergency calls for a day.

MIRA program for college students
Aug. 16-25, 13 outstanding college students selected for the newest Med Ed program, MIRA, will learn hands-on skills and participate in field trips, behind-the-scenes activities and produce short videos highlighting health careers. They will interview local health professionals to learn why they decided to pursue higher education and choose a health career. MIRA is funded through a gift from the South Texas Outreach Foundation.

One of the students who will participate in MIRA is Joel Jurado, a Mexican immigrant. Jurado joined the Med Ed program and participated as a junior volunteer at Laredo Medical Center (LMC) while attending United High School. “My experience was wonderful and let me remain in contact with the medical field by going to physician presentations, field trips and administration duties at LMC,” the Texas A&M International University student said in his MIRA application essay. “MIRA will help me define my career and specialize in the best area to fulfill my goal.”

Visit to San Antonio campuses
In November, two busloads of Laredo high school students will visit the Health Science Center campus in San Antonio to learn about medical, nursing, dental, research and health profession careers through hands-on activities.

Med Ed summer camps
And next summer, students will again have the opportunity to attend the Med Ed summer camps. This summer, students attended 16 hands-on workshops on such topics as nutrition, physician assistant studies, environmental health, anatomy, nursing, genetics, research and psychology. Other sessions focused on preparing for the SAT, resume writing and interviewing skills.

To sign up for Med Ed, visit www.uthscsa.edu/meded or contact Rubio, (956) 523-7437.

To learn about the degrees offered through the UT Health Science Center, including the two offered entirely in Laredo — dietetics and physician assistant studies — contact Araceli Duran, (923) 523-7411.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 2 percent of all U.S. institutions receiving federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled a record $259 million in fiscal year 2009. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced 27,000 graduates. The $753 million operating budget supports six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.