New health equity research center launches

Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez talks at a table in front of a group of people. The Power of Insight.

Mays Cancer Center is focused on translating its research into life-saving cancer care for all South Texans while addressing social determinants of health that adversely impact Hispanic communities in particular.

“We aim to help prevent South Texans from getting cancer while also improving cancer outcomes, survivorship and quality of life.”

– Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, MPH, chair, Department of Population Health Sciences, and associate director for community outreach and engagement, Mays Cancer Center

Thanks to a four-year, $4.08 million grant from the American Cancer Society, the Mays Cancer Center at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio launched the Avanzando Equidad de Salud: Latino Cancer Health Equity Research Center in February 2023.

The center, a response to the severe cancer burden facing Hispanics in South Texas, unites South Texas research scholars and the community to reduce health disparities across the cancer care continuum by targeting social determinants of health that prevent many within the Hispanic community from obtaining equitable care.

“Our new center conducts a unique combination of community-engaged research, training, patient assessment and advocacy to address the social determinants of health — such as access to health care, financial strain and food insecurity — that deter Latinos from equitable access to cancer care, prevention, early detection and treatment,” said Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, MPH. Ramirez, who leads the health equity program Salud America!, is chair of the health science center’s Department of Population Health Sciences and director of its Institute for Health Promotion Research. She’s also associate director of the Community Outreach and Engagement Program at Mays Cancer Center.

“We aim to help prevent South Texans from getting cancer while also improving cancer outcomes, survivorship and quality of life,” Ramirez said.

Why the center is needed

Nearly 5 million people — 69% of whom are Hispanic — live in South Texas, which stretches from San Antonio south to the Texas-Mexico border.

Hispanics in this region are at disproportionately greater risk of developing liver cancer (64%), cervical cancer (46%), gallbladder cancer (8%), gastric cancer (4%) and pediatric leukemia (32%) than peers in the rest of Texas and the U.S., according to The South Texas Health Status Review (2018), co-authored by Ramirez.

 

Percentages of the types of cancers the Hispanic population of the area are at risk of getting.

“The Avanzando Equidad de Salud Center will target these very inequities that are creating such a heavy cancer burden across South Texas,” Ramirez said.

What the center will do

The center aims to be the driving force in South Texas and the nation for building health equity, providing equitable cancer care, decreasing the burden of cancer and improving Hispanic health outcomes. To do so, the center will create a collaborative environment with the community to:

  • Conduct three scholar-led cancer control research projects. The center will coordinate and provide leadership, mentoring and support for these two scholars.
  • Assess cancer patients for social determinants of health. The center will change the electronic health record at UT Health San Antonio and the Mays Cancer Center to systematically assess patients for social determinants of health.
  • Engage research scholars and the community in education and advocacy for system and policy changes that improve health equity. For the center, Ramirez’s Salud America! will apply its national communication efforts locally to create peer-modeled content and advocacy toolkits for on-the-ground system and policy changes.
  • Create a tailored mentoring program, webinar series and connection to local and national mentoring resources. The center will enhance the ability of research scholars and other earlyto mid-career faculty researchers at the Mays Cancer Center to understand and integrate social determinants of health assessment and health equity in their future cancer research interventions in cancer prevention, screening, treatment and survivorship.

The Avanzando Equidad de Salud Center team

The center will be headquartered at the university, a Hispanic-Serving Institution, in alignment with its Mays Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institutedesignated Cancer Center.

“We welcome the center as an opportunity to further elevate UT Health San Antonio’s culturally, regionally and contextually tailored cancer education, prevention, diagnosis and treatment by increasingly targeting the social determinants of health that drive health disparities in South Texas,” said Robert Hromas, MD, FACP, acting president, UT Health San Antonio.

The Avanzando Equidad de Salud Center is the result of extramural discovery science grants funded through a investment by the American Cancer Society $54.3M investment by the American Cancer Society.


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