Skip to main content

Part of UT Health San Antonio

UT Health San Antonio ResearchUT Health San Antonio Research

Research

Part of UT Health San Antonio

Give

Researcher Quicklinks

Institutional Core Labs

  • iLabs
  • Bioanalytics & Single-Cell
  • Biospecimen and Translational Genomics
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Mass Spectometry
  • Optical Imaging
  • Structural Biology (NMR)
  • Structural Biology (X-Ray Crystallography)

Find a Researcher

  • Profiles

Research by School

  • Long School of Medicine
  • School of Dentistry
  • School of Health Professions
  • School of Nursing

Software Training & Cyberinfrastructure

  • VPR IT

Additional Resources

  • Environmental Health & Safety
  • Council of Principal Investigators
  • National Academy of Inventors
  • Office of Technology Commercialization
  • Postdoc Positions
  • Report A Discovery
  • Research Directory
  • San Antonio Bioscience Research
  • San Antonio Partnership for Precision Therapeutics
  • Spotlight on Research Integrity

Close Quicklinks

Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Research Areas
  • Researchers
  • Clinical Trials
  • VPR Resources
  • Collaborations

You are here

  • Stories
  • Proyecto Voces (Project Voices): Use Your Voice to Help Latinx Immigrants

Clinical Trials Day 2020: Highlighting Project Voices

Contributor

May 21, 2020

CT Day Collage

Since 2012, Proyecto Voces has focused on supporting research and community outreach to identify, understand, and meet the health needs of at-risk Latinx immigrants through team science and community-based approaches.

For Clinical Trials Day 2020, we reached out to Dr. Luz Garcini at the UT Health San Antonio's ReACH Center about her study helping undocumented immigrants cope with stress in the U.S. :

In Proyecto Voces, we combine research into practice. That is, we apply what we learn from our studies to our outreach in the community. Covering many topics, Proyecto Voces’ studies have ranged from informing basic science research to developing training and educational resources. This also helps us develop interventions.

One of our current studies is to understand how stress gets “under the skin” of undocumented Latinx immigrants, affecting mental and physical health. Undocumented immigrants face complex and chronic stress imposed by social, political and cultural environments. Coping with this high-level of stress can increase their risk for developing chronic illness.

In this study, we are collecting information in 3 ways:

1. detailed immigration and demographic history

2. blood samples to understand the effect that stress has on physical health

3. information on how immigrants cope with stress

This information will help us understand how stress affects the body and identify any helpful skills or attitudes to pass onto other Latinx immigrants. We are collecting similar data from documented Latinx residents and U.S. citizens to compare how stress affects health in these groups.Proyecto Voces is expanding to study how COVID-19 has made the effects of stress worse for undocumented Latinx immigrants and their documented Latinx counterparts. It has now shifted our research focus to better understand the health of vulnerable communities in the context of a pandemic. This information is essential to reduce the widening gap of pre-existing Latinx health disparities and reduce negative social and economic consequences.

This information will help us understand how stress affects the body and identify any helpful skills or attitudes to pass onto other Latinx immigrants. We are collecting similar data from documented Latinx residents and U.S. citizens to compare how stress affects health in these groups.

Proyecto Voces is expanding to study how COVID-19 has made the effects of stress worse for undocumented Latinx immigrants and their documented Latinx counterparts. It has now shifted our research focus to better understand the health of vulnerable communities in the context of a pandemic. This information is essential to reduce the widening gap of pre-existing Latinx health disparities and reduce negative social and economic consequences.

 

Categories:  Engagement & Outreach; Research & Innovation

The VPR Newsletter

The latest in research discovery, innovation and resources.

Read related stories

  • Dr. Waridibo Allison

    Training the Trainer to Increase Health Care Access

  • History of PTEF

    Announcing the President’s Translational and Entrepreneurial Research Fund 2020 Awards

  • CT Day Collage

    Proyecto Voces (Project Voices): Tu Voz Puede Ayudar a Inmigrantes Latinxs

Share this story

Map image of UT Health San Antonio location

UT Health San Antonio

8403 Floyd Curl Dr
San Antonio, TX 78229

210-567-7000
vpr@uthscsa.edu

Connect with us

  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Linked In
  • Facebook
  • Job Opportunities
  • Research Directory
  • Mission Magazine
  • Give a Donation

We make lives better ®

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also called UT Health San Antonio, is a leading academic health center with a mission to make lives better through excellence in advanced academics, life-saving research and comprehensive clinical care including health, dental and cancer services.

Web Privacy | Links from websites affiliated with UT Health's website (uthscsa.edu) to other websites do not constitute or imply university endorsement of those sites, their content, or products and services associated with those sites. The content on this website is intended to be used for informational purposes only. Health information on this site is not meant to be used to diagnose or treat conditions. Consult a health care provider if you are in need of treatment.