Dr. Cecilia Rosales will be honored with the Southern Arizona Chicanos Por La Causa "Cause for Change Award" on June 2 for her dedication to the health of underserved communities.
Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. (CPLC) will honor Cecilia Rosales, MD, MS, assistant dean and professor of the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health-Phoenix, for her commitment to ensuring that underserved families throughout Southern Arizona receive excellent health care.
Dr. Rosales will receive the organization’s “Cause for Change Award” for her distinguished career as a leader in health and education, whose sacrifice and dedication to the community has significant impact today and on many generations to come. This year’s 36th annual CPLC Southern Arizona Anniversary Dinner and Awards Ceremony will be held at Desert Diamond Casino and Resort in Tucson on Thursday, June 2, at 6 p.m.
A native Tucsonan, Dr. Rosales also was nominated as a Local Legend of Medicine by Rep. Grijalva. She currently is collaborating with El Colegio de Sonora and the Secretaria de Salud de Sonora on a National Institutes of Health R01 grant,Tools and practices to decrease cardiovascular disease and complications in the diabetic population of Mexico. The research project aims to test the effectiveness of certain tools and practices to decrease cardiovascular disease and complications from diabetes.
In addition, Dr. Rosales was awarded a grant by the Mexico Section of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission. The project seeks to develop and implement a primary prevention mobile unit to provide access to health services and promote healthy lifestyles to the Latino population in Maricopa County. Dr. Rosales convened and works with a team of interprofessional students and faculty from the UA Health Sciences in Phoenix to provide outreach services to residents who lack access to health services or are underinsured. Only four other cities received similar grants (Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and New York). She also recently was named a member of the Academic Technical Council of the Binational Border Health Network. The network is comprised of experts from 10 border states to improve response to the challenges posed by public health conditions on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Dr. Rosales has demonstrated outstanding expertise and scholarship in the areas of program development and implementation, public health administration and policy, and health disparities research related to the Southwest and border region. Her comprehensive understanding of the region has resulted in a unique contribution to the body of knowledge associated with border and binational health in general, and has strengthened community-based participatory research and collaboration in the Southwest. The U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission, the Arizona-Mexico Commission, the Border Governors and the state health departments in Arizona and Sonora have benefited from her innovative and creative strategies for strengthening the public-health infrastructure in this region.
Dr. Rosales serves as the private sector co-chair of the Health Services Committee of the Arizona-Mexico Commission. Her deep understanding of the context in which the public health infrastructure can be strengthened at the local, state, national and binational level to address the issues of health disparities in this region is combined with her years of experience, along with her passionate commitment to the elimination of health disparities, mentoring of students and encouraging the pursuit of health sciences majors. She has developed a strong academic and community network created through her years of research, practice and service. Dr. Rosales strives to bring together and work with a multidisciplinary and binational cadre of interested parties, including academics, non-profit and governmental officials.
About Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc.
Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) is a community development corporation (CDC) that provides services in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. Since 1969, CPLC has been changing lives by developing self-sufficiency and instilling empowerment in those they serve. Focus areas are economic development, education, housing and social services. CPLC provides a better life through offering business and employment opportunities, ensuring everyone has the solid foundation of an education; providing hope through a pathway of recovery, restoration and resiliency; and ensuring that a safe, secure, affordable home is available to every individual served. Today, they have 48 programs and services, 820 employees and 60 offices, making CPLC the third-largest Hispanic nonprofit in the nation and the No. 1 charity in Arizona. For more information, please visit www.CPLC.org
