UT Health Science Center San Antonio faculty member named a ‘Most Powerful and Influential Woman in Texas’

SAN ANTONIO (April 14, 2011) – UT Health Science Center San Antonio nursing faculty member Norma Martinez Rogers, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, has been selected by the National Diversity Council as one of 20 “Most Powerful and Influential Woman of Texas.” The award was presented at the seventh annual Texas Diversity and Leadership Conference April 7 in Dallas.

Dr. Rogers is a clinical professor in the Department of Family and Community Health Systems, where she has developed mentoring programs to enhance the success of nursing students and bring diversity into the ranks of the nursing profession. In 2000, Dr. Rogers began a mentoring program called Juntos Podemos (Together We Can) with 20 students and a $5,000 grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. In 10 years, the program has served nearly 2,400 students, including more than 200 each semester.

In fall 2010 she received a $900,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to expand the mentoring program to encourage nursing students to consider extending their education into graduate school, ultimately to enter nursing education, research and leadership. The same year she also received a $500,000 grant through the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to initiate a mentorship program based on Juntos Podemos in nursing schools in three states through the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, an organization she led from 2008 to 2010.

“Dr. Martinez Rogers continues to mentor and inspire future leaders in nursing and the community,” said Herlinda Zamora, M.S.N., RN, a clinical instructor in the School of Nursing who nominated Dr. Rogers for the award. “She is a true advocate for the health of diverse populations.”

Terrie Garcia, M.Ed., RN, a doctoral student and Project BEYOND coordinator at the Marquette University College of Nursing, also sent a letter on behalf of Dr. Rogers’ nomination. She said, “Through my membership in NAHN, Dr. Norma Martinez Rogers has been a role model and mentor to me. She is a true leader who is dedicated to growing the next generation of Hispanic Nurses.”

In addition to her past leadership of the NAHN, Dr. Rogers is serving in numerous local, national and international leadership roles:

  • Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (commissioner)
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health’s Movilizandonos per Nuestro Future (steering committee)
  • Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (steering committee)
  • Alliance for Nurses for Healthy Environments (steering committee)
  • Congressional Hispanic Caucus (member)
  • Committee on Jail Population and Mental Health Issues (member)
  • National Association of Hispanic Nurses (president, San Antonio Chapter)
  • William F. Connell School of Nursing at Boston College (visiting professor)
  • Pfizer Inc. (advisory board member)
  • Diversity Advisory Board (member)
  • Gannett Healthcare Group (advisory board member)
  • American Hospital Association’s Commission to End Health Disparities (board member)
  • National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurses Association (executive board member)
  • Hispanic Health Care International (reviewer)
  • National Institutes of Health/Child and Family Research, Building Sustainable Community-Linked Infrastructure to Enable Health Science (external reviewer)

 

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving U.S. federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $228 million in fiscal year 2010. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.



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