Intramural Research on Hispanic/Latino Populations Meeting
, by Elise Tookmanian, Ph.D.
From left to right: (Back row) Katherine McGlynn, Leonardo Mariño-Ramírez, Yingxi (Cimo) Chen, Silvina Horovitz, Glorielly Gonzalez, Mónica Sierra, María de los Ángeles Spencer, Brenda Quinones Flores, Constanza Camargo. (Front row) Ysabel Duron, Jessica Madrigal, Hanna Blaney, Jose Jeronimo, Alvaro Rivera-Andrade, Larissa Avilés-Santa.
In December, the NIH Intramural Research on Hispanic/Latino Populations Meeting was held at the NCI Shady Grove campus. The meeting was sponsored by the NIH Hispanic Health Research Scientific Interest Group, comprised of the many researchers across the intramural research program who are conducting research in this area.
Hispanic/Latino populations have traditionally been underrepresented in health research and face a variety of health-related inequalities. The aim of the meeting was to promote trans-NIH research collaborations to address these health disparities among Hispanic/Latino populations. Maria Constanza Camargo, Ph.D., Earl Stadtman investigator, and Katherine A. McGlynn, Ph.D., M.P.H., senior investigator, both in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, were two of the organizers, alongside Drs. Erik Rodriquez, staff scientist at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and Larissa Avilés-Santa, Director of Clinical and Health Services Research at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Drs. Camargo and Avilés-Santa co-chair the NIH Hispanic Health Research Scientific Interest Group.
Over 50 attendees listened to 20 presentations on topics ranging from basic science to clinical trials research. DCEG scientists (listed below) gave six of these talks. Dr. Eliseo Pérez-Stable, NIMHD Director, delivered the keynote address in the afternoon. The meeting concluded with a networking session to foster new relationships and collaborations among the attendees.
Dr. Camargo - Helicobacter pylori infection, premalignant gastric lesions, and gastric cancer
Yingxi (Cimo) Chen, M.D., Ph.D. - Cancer mortality and county-level risk factors among US Hispanic/Latino populations
Michael Dean, Ph.D. - Exploring the genetics of pediatric and adult cancers in Guatemala
Mia M. Gaudet, Ph.D. - Hispanic/Latino recruitment into the Connect cohort
Jessica Madrigal, Ph.D., M.S. - Environmental exposures among Hispanic/Latino populations: new strategies for studies of cancer and disparities
Mónica S. Sierra, Ph.D., M.S.P.H. - Costa Rica HPV Vaccine Trials: Research to generate actionable evidence on single-dose HPV vaccination