January 29, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Preventive Medicine and the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) will host a satellite conference and live Webcast Tuesday, Feb. 2 for health-care providers to discuss Latino immigrants and cancer.
"Latinos are lagging behind on cancer screening, particularly Latino immigrants," said Isabel Scarinci, Ph.D., associate professor of preventive medicine at UAB. "The good news is that Latinos trust health-care providers and listen to them. By knowing a few things about the Latino culture and how to give the screening messages to their Latino patients, health-care providers can have a major impact in decreasing the cancer burden in this population."
Scarinci will co-host "Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Among Latino Immigrants: How Can Health-Care Providers Maximize Their Efforts?" with one of the top experts on cancer in the Latino population, Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., a professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatics and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
The satellite conference and live Webcast is free, and health-care providers who work with or have an interest in working with Latino clients can register at www.adph.org/alphtn/. Continuing-education credits will be offered. Direct questions to ADPH at 334-206-5618 or e-mail alphtn@adph.state.al.us. The conference is funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), UAB and ADPH.
"We are honored to have Dr. Ramirez in Alabama. She is a national expert in Latino health and the development of culturally relevant messages targeting Latinos in the United States," Scarinci said. "In this Webcast we plan to share some strategies on cancer-screening and prevention messages tailored to Latino immigrants based on evidence-based research."
Ramirez has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and is lead investigator on research projects funded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She also is lead investigator for Redes En Acción, an NCI-sponsored program that combats cancer among Latinos with a national network of community, research and health groups and the public. She also chairs Komen's National Hispanic/Latino Advisory Council and the CDC Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection and Control Advisory Committee.
Ramirez also is on the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Advisory Board, National Behavior Change Expert Panel for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, National Cancer Policy Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine and Commission of Life Sciences, Lance Armstrong Foundation Board of Directors and the Advisory Board of the National Child Health Study.
Scarinci leads the UAB Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC) Hispanic/Latino Health Working Group and is an associate scientist in the UAB MHRC, Comprehensive Cancer Center, John J. Sparkman Center for International Public Health Education, Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education and Center for Health Promotion. She has focused most of her research in the areas of cervical cancer (primary and secondary prevention), smoking, socioeconomic status and depression among women. She has received international, national and local funding in women's health. She also has published a number of papers in the areas of health promotion, disease prevention, and mental health among under-served populations, especially low-income and minority women.
About UAB
The UAB Division of Preventive Medicine is dedicated to medicine and the health of the public through research, teaching and dissemination and translation of knowledge for improved health outcomes. From its inception in 1967, the division has played a key role in the many groundbreaking trials contributing to the knowledge of medical and health systems, behavioral aspects of disease, epidemiology, prevention, control and disease outcomes. Special concern for health disparities and a desire to promote women's health guide many division activities. A research-oriented division, it also has active programs for the training of postdoctoral fellows and clinical scholars.