FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 14, 2006

HACU’s Professions Capacity Building Program focuses on improving minority health

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities’ (HACU’s) Professions Capacity Building Program (PCBP) held its last workshop in San Antonio on October 7, 2006.  Now in its eighth year, the PCBP is supported by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) and administered by the Office of Minority Health (OMH) and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) through a cooperative agreement.  HACU manages the program through HACU’s Office of Capacity Building Initiatives.

The team of 19 professors, instructors, administrators and minority health care grant specialists represent 2-year and 4-year HACU member colleges and universities at the forefront of Hispanic health care education and outreach in California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Puerto Rico and Texas.

“This year’s program participants represented 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 provides our HSI’s a platform where faculty and staff can actively engage with professional mentors on research proposal preparation and submission of federal grants aimed at the health care needs of Hispanic communities,” said Tony Leiva, HACU Director of the Office of Capacity Building Initiatives 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, serves as Principal Investigator.

HACU, the only nationally recognized voice for HSIs, represents over 450 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 in the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as 50 in Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

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

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

• Dr. Mary D. Barakzai, Graduating Coordinator, Department of Nursing, California State University – Fresno
• Ms. Judy Camargo, Director of College and Grants Development, Northwest Vista College
• Dr. Carrie Castañeda-Sound, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Our Lady of the Lake University
• Dr. Franklin Carrero-Martinez, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez
• Dr. David A. Cherin, Interim Assistant Vice-President, Department of Grants, Research & Sponsored Programs, California State University – Bakersfield
• Dr. Gwen Cohen-Brown, Assistant Professor, Department of Dental Hygiene, New York City College of Technology
• Ms. Teri Erickson, Director of Resource Development, Otero Junior College
• Ms. Mayra M. Ferran, External Resource Specialist, Universidad del Este
• Dr. Isar P. Godreau, Researcher and Director, Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, University of Puerto Rico – Cayey
• Ms. Cristina Hernandez, Director of Grants Resources, Texas A&M International University
• Ms. Maggie Juarez, Director of Grants and Contracts, Department of Finance and Administration, Texas A&M University – Kingsville
• Ms. Mary Lou Spillers, Research Compliance Specialist, Office of Research Development, University of Texas at San Antonio
• Ms. Maria G. Montez, Faculty Associate, Department of Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology, University of Texas Health Science Center – San Antonio
• Dr. Solomon T. Osayande, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Palo Verde College
• Dr. Raymond L. Scott, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of La Verne
• Ms. Isabel Sifuentes, Grants Specialist, Minorities Biomedical Research Support Program, Florida International University
• Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, Associate Provost for Research, Department of Academic Affairs, California State University – San Bernardino
• Ms. Ellen Trabka, Chairperson & Nursing Faculty, Health Occupations Education Department, Northern New Mexico College

For more information, contact Tony Leiva, HACU Director of Capacity Building Initiatives or Arturo Cuéllar, Program Manager at (210) 692-3805 or visit www.hacu.net.

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