San Diego, Texas is a quiet two-stoplight town with a strong history in agriculture, ranching, and oil and gas. It’s the kind of place where neighbors know neighbors, and people look out for one another.

It’s also a place where health disparities are visible, and the hometown of Melissa Valerio-Shewmaker, PhD, an associate professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston).

The county seat of Duval County, San Diego, sits west of Corpus Christi and east of Laredo on Highway 44. Its 1,500 households are overwhelmingly Hispanic, 96.8%, with an annual median household income of $25,000 in 2010. Nearly a third of families live below the poverty line.

Valerio-Shewmaker是教职员工，发展和多样性的副院长UTHealth School of Public Health, as well as an associate professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences at the school’s Brownsville campus. She also is a member of the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, and previously served as the regional dean for the school’s San Antonio campus for six years. She is the first schoolwide associate dean for UTHealth School of Public Health whose location is outside the Houston campus.

Her body of work emphasizes the identification of effective and culturally sensitive strategies for promotion of chronic disease prevention and management in marginalized and underserved populations. She works with community partners to design and implement educational interventions to improve health outcomes and organizational practice in community settings.

她的希望是，研究和实践工作有助于理解和为圣beplay苹果手机能用吗地亚哥等社区中的所有人提供护理，这被认为是医疗服务不足的地区。她说，随着时间的流逝，2型糖尿病和心血管疾病在社区中很常见，产生了几代人。

“Depending on the need for specialized health care, people in my hometown would have to drive to Corpus Christi, which is about a two-hour round trip,” Valerio-Shewmaker said. “I realized early that some people in the community were less likely to have access to transportation and may have trouble gaining access to specialist care. For many, specialized health care may be a luxury given the need to have a means to drive there, as well as the time off from work to make the trip.”

This has led to work analyzing the challenge transportation has in health care access.

“在德克萨斯州的爱丽丝（位于德克萨斯州杜瓦尔县的吉姆·威尔斯县），我们正在与Real，Inc。合作测试一个框架，以确定如何将农村运输授权纳入改善医疗保健访问，“ 她说。“过境机构在将人们与医疗保健联系起来，以及满足严重精神疾病或需要运输援助的合并症的人的需求，包括食物，处方和社交活动，以更好地达到这些人的需求，以更好地达到这些需求谁可能被隔离。”

Valerio-Shewmaker said the drive to give back was modeled after her parents.

她说：“我真的很幸运能有一个非常参与社区的父母。”“我父亲在当地独立学区担任学校董事会成员超过30年。我的两个父母都受到国家的雇用。我父亲在德克萨斯州交通运输部工作，我的妈妈在健康和公共服务部门工作。我学到了很多有关职业道德，与社区建立联系以及从他们那里服务的方面的知识。”

Valerio-Shewmaker completed her undergraduate degree at The University of Texas at Austin, and then her Master of Public Health and PhD at the University of Michigan. She said her mentors, who helped shape her research methods and encourage her to be more involved with vulnerable communities, have been instrumental in her success.

“I remember one of my mentors insisting that I ‘think like a scientist,’ and pushing me to incorporate the training, strategies, and approaches that lead to a deeper understanding to better serve and reach vulnerable communities,” she said.

为了有效，研究人员必须与社区建立深beplay苹果手机能用吗厚的联系，并与已经沉浸在该地区的团体进行协作方法。在Covid-19期间，研究人员看beplay苹果手机能用吗到了迅速引入感染和预防策略，这些策略需要解释整个社区的风险降低，无论种族，种族，性别或性别如何，都会影响所有人。Covid-19曾是准备，培训和学习以更好地达到和服务不同人群的案例研究。

她说，她最伟大的学习时刻之一是职业生涯的早期。她制定了一项针对哮喘护理管理中健康素养的计划。他们说，在提出社区顾问委员会时，他们说他们想关注青少年预防糖尿病。

她说：“当时我意识到，我创建了这个出色的建议和方法 - 当时它不符合社区的优先事项。”“不仅如此，我还没有遵循真正的社区参与过程。那是我最后一次做这样的事情。当您从事真实，真实的社区参与工作时，您将从一开始将其共同建立。”

She said it’s also important to listen — not only to what is said, but to what isn’t.

“Listening remains an important aspect of my work and approach,” she said. “When you work with vulnerable populations, they may not always feel like their voice matters. Listening to what people are not saying is critical.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Valerio-Shewmaker has served as part of a team whose work has helped vulnerable populations receive access to antibody testing. She is also working on an initiative in the area of child development, to evaluate the role fathers play in the brain development of their children.

社区健康工作是动手的，需要时间，但这是深刻的收获。

她说：“看到我们的工作在社区中所带来的不同是驱使我的。”“您可能无法计算一个变化并看到重要的P值，但是您可以看到一个个人和小组随着时间的推移而随着时间的流逝而变化，他们的互动，交流和建立韧性 - 这就是真正驱动我的原因。P值非常重要，我们需要能够计算重大变化，但是我们要确保我们了解P值对社区的代表。”

Valerio-Shewmaker resides in Harlingen, Texas with her husband, Troy, and stepdaughters, Abigail and Coral, as well as their black lab, Trigger.