Interventions to help reduce HIV infection among young Latinos will be among the issues discussed at a Feb. 17 event sponsored by a student group from the College of Human Services and Health Professions' (HSHP) School of Nursing. The African, Latino, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American Student Nurses Association's (ALHANA) annual Teaching Day will feature an address by Antonia Villarruel, associate professor of nursing at the University of Michigan. "HIV Risk Reduction Interventions for Latino Youth" will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the School of Nursing Lounge at 426 Ostrom Ave. The event is free and open to the public.
Villarruel has extensive teaching, research, and service experience with Latino communities. Her research centers on the design and testing of culturally appropriate health promotion interventions for Latinos; she is currently the principal investigator of two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health to reduce HIV infection rates in Latino and Mexican adolescents. She is a member of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Minority Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and vice president of the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations.
In addition to her presentation, Villarruel will also meet with nursing faculty, the ALHANA student board, and Latino students in the School of Nursing.
"Teaching Day gives students, faculty, and members of the Syracuse community an opportunity to network with extraordinary minority nursing leaders and educators," says Keyeona Thomas, ALHANA president and a senior in HSHP.
Following Villarruel's talk, ALHANA will present the Mary Elizabeth Carnegie Community Award to Llamara Milano, director of nursing with the Onondaga County Health Department (OCHD). The award is given annually in recognition of the significant role minority nurses play in ensuring quality health care in the community. Milano is being honored for providing nursing leadership in the OCHD and for the role she has played in the significant decrease in the African American infant mortality rate in Onondaga County. She was also instrumental in developing a pregnancy prevention program in the Syracuse City School District's middle schools.
ALHANA sponsors a number of activities throughout the year. Members are involved in several community service activities, including food drives, volunteer work at area long-term care facilities and with local adolescents, and various other community activities. All students in the School of Nursing and HSHP who are interested in health careers are invited to participate in ALHANA.
For more information about ALHANA Teaching Day, contact Hilda Martinez at 443-1631 or hrmartin@syr.edu.
