SAN ANTONIO (Oct. 26, 2007) – Martha A. Medrano, M.D., M.P.H., of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, a leader in the academic movement to increase retention and matriculation of Hispanics through medical school, is one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics® in the country as listed in the October issue of Hispanic Business magazine.
The periodical, based in California, cited Dr. Medrano’s leadership of the Medical Hispanic Center of Excellence in the Health Science Center School of Medicine, her work on the effects of childhood trauma on women drug addicts, and her participation with the National Cancer Institute-funded Redes En Acción program that targeted cancer awareness among Hispanics.
Others on the list include America Ferrera, the actress who plays Ugly Betty on television, NASA astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Olivas, and Raymund Paredes, Ph.D., commissioner of higher education, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Dr. Medrano recently was featured as a woman of excellence in San Antonio Woman magazine. In addition, the national health benefits company Aetna appointed her to its Racial and Ethnic Equality Advisory Committee. That panel is collecting data and strategizing approaches to improve quality of care for Aetna members of diverse races and ethnicities.
Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president and professor of pediatric and transplantation surgery at the UT Health Science Center, was on the Most Influential Hispanics® list in 2006.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $576 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $15.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 22,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields.