{"id":1950,"date":"2019-10-04T18:06:47","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T18:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/?page_id=1950"},"modified":"2019-10-08T17:04:40","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T17:04:40","slug":"2019-national-hispanic-heritage-month","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwmedptn\/strategies-programs\/healthcare-equity\/hcetoolkit\/healthcare-equity-related-commemorations\/2019-national-hispanic-heritage-month\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 National Hispanic Heritage Month"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Shutterstock ID: 1486106495<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson when Congress passed Pub. L. 90-498<\/a>, National Hispanic Heritage Month was expanded to 30 days by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. Beginning the observation on September 15th<\/sup> has significance \u2013 elevating the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries.\u00a0 These nations include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16th<\/sup> and September 18 respectively.<\/p>\n

The very first proclamation designating Hispanic Heritage Week which went on to become National Hispanic Heritage Month was issued by then President Lyndon B. Johnson \u2013 Presidential Proclamation 3869<\/a> \u2013 which offers in part:<\/p>\n

Wishing to pay special tribute to the Hispanic tradition, and having in mind the fact that our five Central American neighbors celebrate their Independence Day on the fifteenth of September and the Republic of Mexico on the sixteenth, the Congress by House Joint Resolution 1299, has requested the President to issue annually a proclamation designating the week including September 15 and 16 as National Hispanic Heritage Week.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Dr. Catalina Esperanza Garcia<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: University of Texas El Paso<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Growing up in in el Segundo Barrio of El Paso, Texas, Dr. Catalina Esperanza Garcia remembers wanting to become a doctor as a child. \u201cIn sports they tell you to imagine making the perfect shot, well for me the perfect shot was walking down the hospital corridor, dressed as a physician in a white coat with a stethoscope.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1961, Dr. Garcia graduated from Texas Western College \u2013 now named the University Of Texas El Paso (UTEP)<\/a> with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biology. Eight years later, Dr. Garcia became a doctor. In 1969, she became the second Latina to graduate from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School<\/a>. For the next 50 years, Dr. Garcia built her medical career as an anesthesiologist in North Texas. In addition to her being a practicing physician, Dr. Garcia has been actively involved community engagement. \u00a0Her drive to help young Hispanic women succeed, Dr. Garcia established the Dr. Catalina E. Garcia Student Enhancement Endowment<\/a> in 2015. Such support facilitates cultural immersion activities for students in the UTEP\u2019s Medical Profession\u2019s Institute (MPI).<\/p>\n

Citation<\/strong>: University of Texas El Paso. (n.d.). Dr. Catalina Esperanza Garcia. Retrieved October 2, 2019, from https:\/\/givingto.utep.edu\/page.aspx?pid=1631<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Garcia is also a founding member of the philanthropic Dallas Women\u2019s Foundation<\/a>. She teaches English to immigrant women. In 2013, Dr. Garcia was the recipient of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hispanic 100 Latina Living Legend Award. In 2016, she received a Distinguished Alumni and Gold Nugget Award from the University of Texas at El Paso.<\/p>\n

\n

Helen Rodr\u00edguez-Tr\u00edas, MD<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: American Journal of Public Health<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Tr\u00edas wanted to be a physician because medicine “combined the things I loved the most, science and people. I understood that medicine would give me more direct and independent ways to contribute to society, not through organizations or abstract studies, but acting directly on the individual.” As a pediatrician, she strove to meet the health needs of the poorest children, from San Juan to the South Bronx. She was medical director of the New York State AIDS Institute from 1988 to 1989, and she was named the first Latina president of the American Public Health Association (APHA) in 1993. Rodriguez-Tr\u00edas may be best known, however, for her pivotal role in the women\u2019s health movement.<\/p>\n

Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Tr\u00edas was a founding member of the Women’s Caucus of the American Public Health Association. Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Tr\u00edas was a founding member of Committee to End Sterilization Abuse. Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Tr\u00edas received the Presidential Citizen’s Medal for her work on behalf of women, children, people with HIV and AIDS, and the poor. Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Tr\u00edas was the first Latina to be elected president of the American Public Health Association. Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Tr\u00edas was a founding member of the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse.<\/p>\n

Citation:<\/strong> Wilcox J. (2002). The face of women’s health: Helen Rodriguez-Tr\u00edas. American journal of public health, 92(4), 566-9.<\/p>\n

\n

Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: New York University Department of Plastic Surgery<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez practices as a plastic surgeon in New York City. Rodriguez has affiliations with various hospitals in America\u2019s largest city \u2013 including NYU Langone Hospitals. He also is connected with the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

A native to South Florida, Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez is the son of Cuban immigrants. \u201cWe are a resilient culture that knows how to overcome adversity and make the best of any situation. Cubans are hard-working people with strong family values, deep rooted traditions, and of great religious faith,” offered Rodriguez to Univision News<\/a> in their honoring Hispanic Heritage Month.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez and his team performed New York University Langone\u2019s first face transplant in August 2015. Patrick Hardison \u2013 Mississippi firefighter who sustained serious burns in September 2001 while on the job \u2013 was the recipient. Discussing Hardison\u2019s procedure Rodriguez said, \u201cThere is nothing that brings greater joy than to care for patients in need of surgical solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez earned his medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond.<\/p>\n

Citation<\/strong>: N\u00fa\u00f1ez, E., Liendo, O., & Univsion. (2016, October 14). 23 inspiring stories of Hispanic health professionals. Retrieved October 2, 2019, from https:\/\/www.univision.com\/univision-news\/health\/these-23-hispanics-are-an-example-in-the-us-health-services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Mario Molina<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: The Nobel Foundation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A native of Mexico City, Mario Molina won a Nobel Prize in 1995 for his research on how man-made chemicals affect the Earth\u2019s ozone layer.\u00a0 In 1995, Molina won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in recognition of his contributions to science.<\/p>\n

Accordingly to Biography.com<\/a>, Molina as a child created a chemistry lab inside a bathroom in his home. To expand his interests in chemistry, Molina began his educational journey in Mexico, then Germany and ultimately moved to the United States in 1968. Here, Molina earned a degree in physical chemistry from the University of California (UC) Berkeley.<\/p>\n

After meeting and marrying his wife Luisa Tan and graduating from UC Berkeley in 1972, Molina left moved to Southern California to continue his research at UC Irvine. \u00a0Molina taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1989 to 2004, leaving the east coast for a teaching position at UC San Diego.<\/p>\n

On November 20, 2013, then President Barack Obama awarded Molina the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n

Citation<\/strong>: Biography.com Editors. (2019, August 26). Mario Molina Biography. Retrieved October 2, 2019, from https:\/\/www.biography.com\/scientist\/mario-molina.<\/p>\n

\n

Dr. Bernardo Alberto Houssay<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: The Nobel Foundation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947, Dr. Bernardo Alberto Houssay was born in 1887 as one of eight children. His parents, Dr. Albert and Clara (n\u00e9e Laffont) Houssay brought his family to Buenos Aires from France. Houssay began his educational training at Colegio Brit\u00e1nico, after which he entered the School of Pharmacy at the University of Buenos Aires at the age of 14.\u00a0 Houssay graduated in 1904 and began studying medicine.\u00a0 He began working in the Department of Physiology within the same university in 1907 \u2013 while continuing his medical training.<\/p>\n

He then entered the School of Pharmacy of the University of Buenos Aires graduating in 1904 at the age of 14. He had already begun studying medicine, then in 1907, before completing his studies he began working in the Department of Physiology. Over the next decade, Houssay\u2026<\/p>\n