A community cannot properly serve and protect the health of its people without public health research
Larissa Avilés-Santa, MD, MPH, FACP, FACE, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH
"Public health research is the backbone of health in our society. How a community provides services to its residents who are sick and injured is determined by public health research. How a community determines how many hospitals, fire stations and police stations they will need is through studies in public health. How a community establishes emergency response systems is determined by public health research. A community cannot properly serve and protect the health of its people without public health research."
Larissa Avilés-Santa, MD, MPH, FACP, FACE, is excited to go to work every day. She is a member of a team that is conducting one of the largest, most important and comprehensive epidemiological studies on Latino Health in the United States-the Hispanic Community Health Study at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Although Latinos represent the largest minority population in the United States, surprisingly little known about their health, including the effect of the influence and assimilation of American culture, and if and how the barriers to access to health care are affecting health outcomes.
"In my research at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center -Dallas, I became particularly interested in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in Latinos with Type 2 diabetes. This work showed me that younger Latinos were at high risk for obesity-related cardiovascular disease. This is when I knew I wanted to work with the Latino community to address the gap in health education and health literacy, a factor I believe is directly related to the high prevalence of obesity and cardiovascular diseases for Latinos."
Avilés-Santa recognizes that empathy, trust, and honesty are critical factors in establishing a rapport with patients in order to help them achieve a better understanding of their health and empowering them to take positive steps towards better health. "Trust is very important in the Latino community. When Latino patients feel their physician or health provider truly understands their background and respects them regardless of their education or income level, they are more likely to be receptive and engaged. This will be extremely important in addressing the severe health factors such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease that are widespread in the Latino population."