Dear colleagues--
This is to let you know that there is a story about Michael and his research in the Advance issue that will be distributed this coming Monday. This story that recognizes him as an outstanding CANR student that will soon be graduating can be accessed since now through this link.
As you know this is another recognition to Michael who by the way is the recipient of the 2008 Janina Czajkowski Community Nutrition Award, and did an excellent job defending his MS thesis work this morning.
Please join me in congratulating Michael. I’m very proud of him.
Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Ph.D.
CEHDL community core coordinator-Welcome Angela!
CEHDL is pleased to announce that Dr. Angela Bermudez-Millán has accepted the position of Community Core Coordinator for the Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos. After a long national search, the Hispanic Health Council is delighted to have her aboard in this capacity. Currently a post-doc fellow with CEHDL at UConn and part-time research associate to the Community Core at the HHC, Angela has been involved with the agency for many years as employee, UConn MPH and PhD student, and friend. Her research has been very relevant to the programmatic and policy needs of the Latino community in Hartford and beyond. With her extensive experience in community based research and education, we look forward to the effective role that she will play as community core coordinator, interpreting relevant health disparity information for the community, and capturing community perspective on health disparities for interpretation in the world of research, as well as developing community based research targeted at developing and evaluating community based best-practice solutions to health disparities.
Welcome, Angela!
Grant Awarded
Raising Expectations for All English Language Learners (REALL)
The United States Department of Education (USDE) has awarded Dr Eliana D. Rojas of the University Of Connecticut, Neag School of Education, discretionary priority 3 funding ($1.5 million) to prepare teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) to accelerate their students’ academic achievement. The purpose of the National Professional Development Program is to provide for professional activities that will improve classroom instruction for limited English proficient (LEP) children and assist educational personnel working with such children to meet high professional standards. The project proposed will recruit in-service teachers, offering a plan of study leading to M.A. degrees and/or 6 year certificates with cross-endorsement in TESOL and/or Bilingual Education – focusing on 6th –12th grade mathematics teachers. Twelve (12) teachers will be recruited in years one and three and six in year four for a total of 30 M.A/ sixth year graduates by the close of the project. Twenty-eight (28) teachers, support professionals (counselors) and administrators will be recruited to complete graduate work as non-degree seeking participants or for completion of certification or endorsement requirements with emphasis on models for teaching mathematics to ELLs.
As a second goal, and with the purpose to fortify the participants mathematic curricular experience, the project plans to strengthen and implement an Intermediate Algebra and Pre-Calculus course in Spanish that has already been piloted and is directly linked to ELLs’ needs. Faculty involved with the project will also develop workshops in cross-cultural communication for building culturally responsive learning environments, and the third goal is to develop teacher knowledge in use of technology for directing students towards independent learning and in how to assess the validity of web-based information. Especially design Seminars will be extended to the IHE faculty.
The project will begin in September 2007 and will be directed by Dr Eliana D. Rojas.
This project is designed to focus on the needs of English Language Learners to bring them the same opportunities for academic achievement and English abilities as their peers. School districts make provisions for disabled students within buildings, this project will ensure that teachers having special needs’ students will also be accommodated as they train to better serve all students. The parent component of this project is planned to reach out to adults (parents/guardians) who are not English speakers. Materials will be prepared for use by teachers in Spanish and English. Parent support sessions will be presented by fluent Spanish speakers. This project includes strong collaboration between the Neag School of Education and the Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Institute.
For inquiries please email Carissa Rutkauskas bilingual@uconn.edu ; or call 860-486-5103
Dear colleagues,
We're pleased to announce the winners of the PhD and MS 2007 CEHDL fellowships. And they are...Giselle Perez (doctoral fellowship) and Mariana Calle (master's fellowship). Please join CEHDL in congratulating Giselle, Mariana and their excellent mentors Drs. Dean Cruess and Maria-luz Fernandez.
Giselle Perez
Giselle is a Dominican American born in New York and raised in Massachusetts. The first in her family to attend college, Giselle conducted HIV research at the Massachusetts General Hospital after graduating from Brown in 2004. She is beginning her Ph.D. program in the Department of Psychology under the mentorship of Dr. Dean Cruess.
Giselle was treated for cancer at age 7; both her personal and research experiences have made her aware of the disparities that exist in Latinos’ access to health care. Her research will focus on the role of family and acculturation on health behaviors and treatment outcome in Latinos diagnosed with cancer. Additionally, she will further examine the patient-physician relationship. Ultimately, her research will help inform interventions that will address the family and patient as a unit as well as help physicians communicate and motivate their Latino patients to pursue proper treatment. This fellowship will help Giselle produce research that will help decrease the health disparities that exist today.
Mariana Calle
Mariana was born in a small village in Argentina. After moving alone to Buenos Aires, she received her BS degree in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She is interested in studying nutritional intervention and its effects on human physiology, particularly the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. She is beginning her MS Program in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, having Dr. María Luz Fernandez as advisor.
She has been teaching “Diet therapy Techniques” at the University of Buenos Aires. She has worked with critical care patients during a fellowship at the Jose de San Martin Clinicas´ Hospital, as well as in many Clinics as Bazterrica and Zubizarreta.
She also has participated, as a volunteer, in a National Nutritional Program called UNIDOS, sponsored by the Health and Social Ministry of Argentina, which allowed her to become aware of the social reality of her country as well as health disparities.
This fellowship will give her a better understanding of the impact of good metabolic control on blood lipids in this Latin community living in US. The fellowship will also allow her to evaluate the benefits of reducing cardiovascular disease risk or delaying macro vascular complications, helping to reduce health disparities
Muchas felicidades a Giselle y Mariana!
Dear colleagues,
We're pleased to announce that the Connecticut NIH EXPORT Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos (CEHDL) has awarded its first $10,000 seed grant to Assistant Professor Julie Wagner to conduct the project “Daily Process Study of Discrimination Stress and Diabetes Outcomes in African American Women”. Dr Wagner is with the Division of Behavioral Sciences & Community Health, University of Connecticut Health Center and will use this funding to collect pilot data needed to develop an NIH R01 proposal.
This 2006-07 health disparities seed grant competition was supported by UConn through the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education and the Department of Nutritional Sciences. The grant review panel was formed by nine multidisciplinary members representing public health, medical, biological, social, and behavioral sciences. The panel followed NIH grant proposal review panel rules and included representation from UConn-Storrs, UConn’s School of Medicine, The Hispanic Health Council and Hartford Hospital.
We want to thank all the PI’s and co-PI’s who submitted an application. This was a highly competitive process with a funding chance of only 11%. Thus, please join me in congratulating Dr. Wagner and her interdisciplinary research team on this important accomplishment.
CEHDL is looking forward to its 2007-2008 health disparities seed grant competition. Call for proposals will be released in early Spring ‘07.
Sincerely,
Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Ph.D.
Dear colleagues,
We're pleased to announce the winners of the PhD and MS 2006 CEHDL fellowships. And they are...Sophia Belay (doctoral fellowship) and Francisco Quintana (master's fellowship). Please join CEHDL in congratulating Sophia, Francisco, and their excellent mentors Drs. Michelle Williams and Stephanie Milan.
Sophia Belay
Sophia is an Ethiopian-American that has been aware of racial and ethnic disparities in access to mental health since a very early age. She was born and raised in Texas and attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana where she also completed her Master's thesis in 2004. Sophia is committed to making a significant contribution to eliminating health disparities. Her research will focus on pre-natal depression in pregnant minority adolescents. Sophia is at the beginning stages of her PhD program in the Department of Psychology under the mentorship of Dr. Stephanie Milan.
Francisco Quintana
Francisco Quintana was born in Mexico. He came to the United Status when he was 8 years old. He is one of 8 children and he grew up in a predominantly low-income ethnic minority community in San Jose, California. He became the first high school graduate in his family and he began his college education by attending Evergreen Community College and subsequently transferring to San Diego State University where he graduated with a 3.8 GPA. Francisco has a strong commitment to social issues. His research will focus on the interrelationship between drug use and depression in minority communities, a topic that is highly relevant to the field of health disparities He has just started his MS program (PhD track) in the Department of Psychology under the mentorship of Dr. Michelle Williams.
Muchas felicidades a Sophia y Francisco!
