Developing the Pipeline for Health Professionals to Advance Hispanic Health - October 28

The third webinar in the series “Promising Practices to Improve Hispanic Health” will discuss the importance of utilizing multiple approaches to developing a pipeline to the health professions for Hispanic students as a key strategy in eliminating health disparities for Hispanic populations. Panelists will describe current approaches to building a research pipeline to advance Hispanic health and identify promising practices in national and local pipeline programs for Hispanic students.

Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD
Director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), NIH

Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD is Director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), which seeks to advance the science of minority health and health disparities research through research, training, research capacity development, public education, and information dissemination. Dr. Pérez-Stable practiced general internal medicine for 37 years at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) before moving to NIH in September 2015. He was professor of medicine at UCSF and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine for 17 years. His research interests include improving the health of racial and ethnic minorities and underserved populations, advancing patient-centered care, improving cross-cultural communication skills among clinicians, and promoting diversity in the biomedical research workforce. For more than 30 years, Dr. Pérez-Stable led research on Latino smoking cessation and tobacco control policy in the United States and Latin America, addressing clinical and prevention issues in cancer screening, and mentoring over 70 minority investigators. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2001.

Norma I. Poll-Hunter, PhD
Senior Director, Human Capital Initiatives, AAMC

Norma Poll-Hunter, PhD, is the Senior Director of Human Capital Initiatives within Diversity Policy and Programs at the Association of American Medical Colleges. In this role, she leads a portfolio of career development programs with a focus on diversity and inclusion across the medical education continuum. She serves as the Deputy Director for the Summer Health Professions Education Program, a national pipeline program to increase diversity in the health professions. She also leads initiatives focused on cultural competence in medical education, building collaborations and partnerships to advance diversity, and research and evaluation projects focused on diversity in the health care workforce.  Prior to the AAMC, Dr. Poll-Hunter practiced as a bilingual psychologist at a regional hospital in Upstate New York. Following receipt of her B.A. from Lehman College, City University of New York, Dr. Poll-Hunter earned her PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Albany, SUNY. 

Francisco Moreno, MD
Director, Arizona Hispanic Center of Excellence Associate Vice President for Diversity & Inclusion Professor, Psychiatry Arizona College of Medicine

Dr. Francisco Moreno is Tenured Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona Colleges of Medicine Tucson and Phoenix, and Associate Vice President at the University of Arizona Health Science, Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
As part of his academic efforts he serves as Multiple Principal Investigator and Engagement Lead for the NIH-Precision Medicine Initiative’s “All of Us Research Program”; Multiple Principal Investigator and Training Program Director for Az-PRIDE, an NIH-NHLBI grant to enhance the research skill and academic advancement of early career faculty from diverse backgrounds who seek to improve health equity; Principal Investigator and Director of “Arizona HOPE” a HRSA- Health Career Opportunities Program which works to enhance diversity of the health professions workforce.
He has been conducting research in biology and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, geared to improve our understanding of the brain basis for mental illness, the underlying mechanisms of treatment response and resistance.
Dr. Moreno has created and supports programs to improve the mental health services for Hispanic, immigrants, and other disadvantaged communities in Arizona.

Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH (Moderator)
Professor and Chair, Freeport McMoRan Chair of Environmental Policy, Director GROWH Research Consortium, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Maureen Lichtveld, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, has more than 35 years environmental public health experience and is chair of department of global environmental health sciences at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She is the Freeport McMoran Endowed Chair in environmental policy and director of the Center for Gulf Coast Environmental Health Research, Leadership, and Strategic Initiatives. Her national and global  environmental health research examines the cumulative impact of chemical and non-chemical stressors on communities facing environmental health threats, disasters and health disparities. Lichtveld is a member, National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council, NIH/NIEHS; EPA Scientific Advisory Board; NAS Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine; Health Disparities Subcommittee, CDC; Chair, Editorial Board, American Journal of Public Health; Immediate Past President, Hispanic Serving Health Professions Schools. Other recognitions: Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars, CDC’s Environmental Health Scientist of the Year, Woman of the Year, New Orleans. Courses: graduate and undergraduate health and environmental policy.