Improving Hispanic health care is focus of higher education panel

SAN ANTONIO, Texas –A new national group of higher education professionals representing the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) will focus on efforts to improve health care for America’s fast-growing Hispanic population.

The team of 20 professors, instructors, administrators and minority health care grant specialists represent HACU member colleges and universities at the forefront of Hispanic health care education and outreach in California, Colorado, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and Texas.

Now in its seventh year, the DHHS-HACU Professions Capacity Building Program is funded by the National Center on Minority and Health Disparities through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and is administered by the DHHS Office of Minority Health. HACU manages the program through HACU’s Office of Education Collaboratives.

 “This year’s program participants represent an extraordinary array of expertise on issues of importance to the urgent health care needs of our country’s under-insured, disproportionately impoverished Hispanic communities. Their collective efforts ultimately will lead to providing more disease prevention outreach, health education and other health care services to the country’s youngest and largest ethnic population,” said HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores.

“HACU applauds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, its Office of Minority Health and National Center on Minority and Health Disparities, for this proactive initiative to promote a healthier future for the nation’s diverse community,” Flores said.

The training and professional development program is designed to strengthen the capacity of the country’s historically under-funded Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or HSIs, to secure and manage more federal grants and other funding opportunities for biomedical and health services research targeting minority health care needs.

HSIs, which serve the largest concentrations of Hispanic higher education students in the largest U.S. Hispanic population centers, currently receive only about half the federal funding per student on average compared to all other degree-granting institutions.

“The DHHS-HACU Professions Capacity Building Program is providing our HSIs the tools to secure more federal grants to address the health care needs of Hispanic communities through education, research and outreach,” said René A. González, HACU Executive Director of Education Collaboratives and co-principal investigator. Dr. Raymond T. Garza, a professor and Executive Director of the Culture and Policy Institute at the University of Texas at San Antonio, a HACU member HSI, will serve as Principal Investigator.

HACU, the only nationally recognized voice for HSIs, represents over 400 colleges and universities that collectively serve more than two-thirds of all U.S. Hispanic higher education students, as well as a growing international membership of leading higher education institutions throughout the Americas and in Spain.

Program participants will complete a series of professional development activities that include online courses and hands-on workshops. Trainings will be held in San Antonio, Texas in both June and August, with a week-long training session July in Bethesda, Maryland.  As part of this summer’s program, the National Institutes of Health will introduce participants to potential NIH funding opportunities for HSIs during the Bethesda meeting. 

This year’s participants in the DHHS-HACU Professions Capacity Building Program are: 

• Cindy Jo Arriago, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, New Jersey City University 
• Janet M. Banks, Ph.D., Associate Professor, College of Nursing & Health Sciences, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi
• Grant Benham, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology & Anthropology, University of Texas - Pan American
• Donna DeRoo, Collaboration and Capacity Building Specialist, Central California Children's Institute, California State University - Fresno
• Benjamin Figueroa, Director of Research & Sponsored Programs, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, California State University, Los Angeles
• Sandra D. Garcia, Sponsored Programs Coordinator, Graduate Studies & Research, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi
• Claudia A. Guzman, Grant Development Coordinator, College of Liberal & Fine Arts, The University of Texas at San Antonio
• Patricia A. Harvard-Hinchberger, Ed.D., School of Nursing, California State University, Dominguez Hills
• Amy Hibbard, Grant Development Associate, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona
• Michelle Hills, Alliant International University, Finance / OSPR - Compliance, Alliant International University
• Amanda D. Jojola, Instructor, Department of Nursing, Adams State College
• Linda Laras, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, OB-GYN, School of Medicine, Univ. of Puerto Rico - Medical Sciences Campus
• Cynthia Perez McCluskey, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio
• Nivia L. Perez-Acevedo, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Univ. of Puerto Rico - Medical Sciences Campus 
• Diana Polendo Luna, Administrative Assistant III, Office of Research & Sponsored Programs, Texas A&M University - Kingsville
• Lee Ann Rodriguez, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Sponsored Programs Administration, Ana G. Mendez University System
• Rosa V. Rosario-Rosado, Ph.D., Research Consultant, Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey
• Maria I. Salinas, Sponsored Research Specialist, Office of Research & Sponsored Projects, University of Texas - Pan American 
• Rebekah J. Thomas, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Physical and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi 
• David F. Trujillo, Director, Grants and Sponsored Programs, New Jersey City University

For more information, contact HACU Executive Director of Education Collaboratives René A. González at (210) 692-3805, Program Coordinator, Arturo Cuellar at (210) 692-3805 or visit www.hacu.net.