For the past twenty years, the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio has stood at the forefront of public health research, advocacy, and community outreach. Founded on October 1, 2006, and led by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, the institute has dedicated its existence to improving health outcomes and achieving health equity in South Texas and beyond. From launching the nation’s first digital health communications network for Latino health to pioneering culturally relevant patient navigation and spearheading landmark cancer survivorship studies, the IHPR has consistently transformed scientific research into tangible, life-saving community action.
As the institute approaches its milestone 20th anniversary on October 1, 2026, health advocates, researchers, and community leaders are reflecting on a legacy defined by innovation, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to vulnerable populations. Through comprehensive reports, digital outreach, bilingual smoking cessation programs, and multidisciplinary conferences, the IHPR has reshaped the landscape of public health, ensuring that the unique needs of South Texas residents and Latino communities nationwide are prioritized, understood, and effectively addressed.
IHPR Creates the Salud America! National Digital Communications Program
Just one year after its inception, the IHPR team established Salud America!, a groundbreaking initiative funded by a significant grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2007. Designed to become the nation’s first digital health communication network aimed at improving Latino health, the program has spent nearly two decades cultivating an expansive online community of over 400,000 parents, school leaders, community advocates, and health stakeholders across the United States.
By leveraging digital content curation, Salud America! fuels its network with multimedia research, compelling human interest stories, and practical tools designed to spark healthy systemic and environmental changes. These resources empower families to live, learn, work, and play in healthier environments. Recent survey data from the network underscores the profound impact of these efforts, revealing a strong association between member engagement in Salud America! communications and actionable, change-making behaviors within their local communities.
Furthermore, the program has established digital content curation as a highly effective and measurable public health promotion tool capable of driving widespread awareness and action. The momentum of Salud America! remains robust. In 2025 alone, the platform curated 162 news stories and 15 role model hero stories, generating over two million social media impressions. Additionally, more than 17,000 advocates downloaded the Health Report Card, a sophisticated data visualization tool mapping non-medical drivers of health by geographic area. Community leaders utilize these report cards for advocacy, presentations to decision-makers, and grant-writing initiatives.
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez emphasized the far-reaching influence of the network, noting that Salud America! is actively helping community leaders drive meaningful, lasting change for Latinos and all populations across the United States.
IHPR Launches First Report Highlighting Specific Disease Issues in South Texas
South Texas, a vibrant and culturally rich region home to 5.2 million residents, simultaneously faces profound and unique health challenges. Recognizing this disparity just two years after its establishment, the IHPR published its seminal report in 2008, titled the South Texas Health Status Review.
This comprehensive document provided the first detailed statistical illustration of health issues spanning from obesity to cancer across the 38-county South Texas region. The findings revealed alarming health disparities, demonstrating that South Texas Latinos face a disproportionately elevated risk for several specific malignancies compared to their peers in the rest of Texas and the wider United States. Statistics from the review showed heightened risks for liver cancer by 64%, cervical cancer by 46%, gallbladder cancer by 8%, gastric cancer by 4%, and pediatric leukemia by 32%.
To maintain an accurate and up-to-date understanding of regional health trends, the IHPR updated the South Texas Health Status Review in subsequent editions published in 2013 and 2018. Reflecting on the impact of these publications, Dr. Ramirez noted that the review served as the essential foundation enabling the Mays Cancer Center to provide highly responsive medical care and tailored research initiatives specifically designed for the local population.
IHPR Finds Patient Navigation Speeds Confirmatory Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment for Latinas
Breast cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality among Latinas, making timely diagnosis and intervention critically important. To address delays in care, a series of studies led by the IHPR at UT Health San Antonio investigated the impact of targeted extra support, known as "patient navigation," for Latinas who received abnormal mammogram results.
In these studies, bilingual patient navigators worked closely with a cohort of 480 Latinas, accompanying them to medical appointments, offering phone support, and assisting with transportation arrangements, language translation, and complex insurance paperwork. The results demonstrated that patient navigation significantly shortened the critical window of time between an abnormal mammogram and the final diagnostic determination, regardless of whether the outcome was positive or negative for cancer.
Moreover, navigated women achieved significantly higher rates of treatment initiation compared to a control group of non-navigated patients. Within 30 days of diagnosis, 69.0% of navigated women started treatment, compared to just 46.3% of the control group. At 60 days, 97.6% of navigated women had initiated treatment, versus 73.1% of non-navigated peers. On average, navigated women commenced treatment within 22 to 25 days, whereas non-navigated women waited between 33 and 46 days. Dr. Ramirez stated that this targeted navigation likely saved the lives of numerous Latinas by successfully accelerating the timeline from diagnosis to treatment.
IHPR’s Quitxt Program Helps South Texans Quit Smoking
As tobacco use persists as the leading preventable cause of disease, IHPR researchers Dr. Amelie Ramirez and Dr. Patricia Chalela stepped forward in 2015 to design and launch Quitxt. Funded originally by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), Quitxt is a free, bilingual, evidence-based mobile service that utilizes text messaging and digital media to help young adults kick their smoking habits.
The initial deployment of the program achieved an encouraging 21.4% quit rate among enrollees at a seven-month follow-up evaluation. Buoyed by this success, subsequent funding enabled the team to expand Quitxt. The service added a dedicated quit-vaping module, extended its reach to recruit tobacco users across both rural and urban areas of Texas, and integrated seamless referrals directly from the Mays Cancer Center and primary care clinics at UT Health San Antonio.
Today, Dr. Ramirez and Dr. Chalela are leading a major CPRIT-funded research grant to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of Quitxt in assisting 1,200 Latino smokers to achieve long-term cessation. Dr. Ramirez highlighted that the evolution of Quitxt, from a culturally tailored texting service into a large-scale research study, exemplifies the institute’s enduring commitment to providing accessible, culturally relevant tools that empower young adults to overcome tobacco addiction.
IHPR Establishes First-Ever Conference on Latino Cancer Continuum
In 2018, the IHPR forged a vital partnership with the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio to establish the Advancing Cancer Research for Latinos and All Populations (ACRLP) conference. This landmark gathering was created to unite a multidisciplinary community of professionals dedicated to evaluating the current state of cancer science, identifying emerging gaps in clinical care, and fostering collaborative solutions to reduce the burden of cancer among Latinos and the broader population.
Over the years, successive ACRLP conferences held in 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2026 have brought together more than 200 distinguished guest speakers and 1,200 prominent attendees representing the United States, Puerto Rico, and Guatemala. These biennial events have generated innovative ideas for research, clinical practice, and health communication, while showcasing over 400 new scientific studies. The collaborative environment fostered by the conferences has accelerated substantial advancements spanning the entire cancer continuum, from primary prevention through long-term survivorship. Organizers have already announced dates for the next ACRLP conference, scheduled for February 23 through 25, 2028.
IHPR Institutionalizes Use of Promotoras de Salud
Throughout its two-decade history, the IHPR has consistently integrated community health workers (CHWs)—including bilingual patient navigators and promotoras de salud—into its public health models to enhance cancer care delivery in South Texas. Led by Dr. Ramirez in collaboration with IHPR Assistant Director Rebecca Jones and Dr. Patricia Chalela, this initiative relies on trusted, bicultural health workers who understand the community’s cultural nuances and systemic barriers.
These CHWs play an indispensable role in identifying healthcare obstacles, guiding patients through complex medical systems, and connecting them with vital resources. Between 2020 and 2025 alone, CHWs operating under IHPR programs led more than 300 community events, directly educating over 9,347 individuals regarding cancer-related care, early detection, and support services. Dr. Ramirez noted that this initiative has substantially strengthened the institute’s capacity to expand community access to educational materials and foster meaningful participation in clinical research.
IHPR Establishes First Cohort Study on Latino Cancer Survivorship
While the United States is currently home to an estimated four million Latino cancer survivors, these individuals frequently contend with advanced disease stages, diminished quality of life, and significant socioeconomic and psychosocial stressors. To confront these challenges, the IHPR is co-leading a pioneering national cohort study designed to examine the social, cultural, behavioral, psychosocial, biological, and medical factors influencing post-cancer life among Hispanic and Latino survivors.
Titled Avanzando Caminos (Leading Pathways): The Hispanic/Latino Cancer Survivorship Study, this major initiative is supported by a six-year, $9.8-million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The project unites researchers from the IHPR and the Mays Cancer Center with their counterparts at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami. The study aims to recruit and follow 3,000 Latino survivors of breast, colorectal, kidney, lung, prostate, stomach, or cervical cancers across study sites in Miami and San Antonio.
Many survivors have embraced the opportunity to share their personal stories to help others, including stomach cancer survivor Yolanda “Yoli” Barrera Day, breast cancer survivor Linda Mota, and prostate cancer survivor Rick Alvarado. Expressing optimism for the project’s future impact, Dr. Ramirez stated that researchers are continually learning vital lessons from study participants that will ultimately assist future survivors in healing, recovering, and reducing the likelihood of cancer recurrence.
IHPR Proves Yoga Can Help Cancer Survivors Stay Fit
Exploring holistic avenues for post-treatment recovery, IHPR researchers Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez and Dr. Daniel Carlos Hughes investigated whether yoga could serve as a viable fitness option for breast cancer survivors. Their published study divided participants into three distinct groups: one participating in therapeutic yoga, one engaging in regular gym-based workouts, and a control group maintaining their preferred physical activity levels, with all participants exercising for three hours weekly.
The findings revealed that all three approaches yielded equivalent benefits concerning body fat reduction, physical fitness, and overall physical function. This outcome suggested that active engagement in regular exercise behavior is considerably more important than the specific modality of exercise chosen.
Collaborating with Nydia Darby, a San Antonio-based therapeutic yoga innovator, Dr. Ramirez and Dr. Hughes expanded their work to integrate yoga directly into patient support frameworks. Although Dr. Hughes has since retired, the collaborative research path he helped establish continues to thrive. In 2026, Dr. Ramirez and Darby secured a two-year, $400,000 leadership grant from Susan G. Komen to further enhance recovery outcomes for cancer survivors by combining standard physical therapy with therapeutic yoga. Dr. Ramirez emphasized that by focusing on the whole person and listening closely to the lived experiences of survivors, the institute hopes to identify increasingly effective and culturally responsive paths to recovery.
IHPR Works with Survivors, Advocates to Create a Cancer Research Agenda
Given the heightened risks for liver cancer, cervical cancer, and pediatric leukemia observed across South Texas, establishing a patient-centered research framework is essential. To address this need, IHPR researcher Dr. Rebecca Jones launched Creando Conexiones: Creating a Patient Centered Cancer Health Research Agenda in South Texas.
The initiative was designed to outline comparative clinical effectiveness research priorities directly identified by South Texas cancer survivors, caregivers, and community stakeholders. This collaborative effort culminated in the publication of the Creando Conexiones Cancer-Related Health Outcomes Research Agenda in 2026. The finalized agenda successfully established multiple priority areas tailored to the distinct needs of cancer patients, survivors, and families throughout the region.
Reflecting on the collaborative development of the initiative, Dr. Jones noted that the agenda was fundamentally shaped by survivors and caregivers who reported that participating in the project contributed positively to their own healing processes while providing a meaningful avenue to help other families navigate their personal cancer journeys.
As the Institute for Health Promotion Research marks its twentieth year of operation on October 1, 2006, the milestone serves as both a celebration of past achievements and a foundation for future public health innovation. Through continuous community engagement, rigorous scientific inquiry, and culturally resonant outreach, the IHPR remains steadfast in its mission to champion health equity and improve the lives of individuals throughout South Texas and across the nation.
