Joe G.N. “Skip” Garcia, MD, University of Arizona senior vice president for health sciences, has been selected by the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as the recipient of the 2015 La Estrella Award.
Dr. Garcia is being recognized by the organization for his outstanding contributions to the field of medicine, his passionate advocacy for the training of physician-scientists and his support of minority health professions students and advanced trainees. Throughout his career Dr. Garcia has actively mentored and nurtured the career paths of minority students.
At Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Garcia started the health research training program for under-represented minority undergraduate students, leading to more than 100 students obtaining doctor of medicine (MD) and other advanced doctoral (PhD) degrees. In 2009, while at the University of Chicago, Dr. Garcia was awarded the Association of Professors of Medicine Diversity Award for his meritorious achievement in improving racial, ethnic and gender diversity within the medical school. At the University of Arizona, since his appointment in the fall of 2013, he has implemented comprehensive strategic initiatives focusing on addressing health-care disparities among underserved patient populations and improving diversity within the University of Arizona Health Sciences training programs and faculty.
“It is a great honor to be recognized by the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce with the La Estrella Award,” Dr. Garcia said. “I feel very privileged to receive this award because it acknowledges and reinforces my passionate belief that our health professions workforce needs to reflect the population it serves. I am hopeful that this recognition will lead to greater interest in health-care careers and more awareness of the local, statewide and national need to create diversity within the health-care workforce,” he added.
On Saturday, Oct. 17, at Casino Del Sol Resort, 5655 W. Valencia Road, Dr. Garcia and other awardees, including the Hispanic Business Man and Woman of the Year, will be honored as Bi-National Award winners at the Noche de Exitos Gala. Ticket information is available at www.tucsonhispanicchamber.org or 520-620-0005.
Dr. Garcia is the Merlin K. DuVal, MD, Endowed Chair for Leadership and Innovation, professor of medicine, an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and board member of the Association of Academic Health Centers. An internationally noted physician-scientist, health administrator, scholar and educator, Dr. Garcia also is a leading authority on the genetic basis of lung disease and the prevention and treatment of inflammatory lung injury.
A key member of the UA’s senior executive team, Dr. Garcia provides academic leadership for the University of Arizona Health Sciences’ colleges: the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix, the UA College of Pharmacy, the UA College of Nursing and the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Dr. Garcia also serves as program director and principal investigator for the Arizona Pride-25 Advanced Health Disparities Training Program in Heart, Lung, Blood and Sleep Conditions grant, designed to assist UA Health Sciences junior faculty members and transition postdoctoral fellows by offering mentoring and leadership development activities, advanced disparities research training and project-based experiences.
About the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The mission of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is to advocate for and provide services to help grow its members’ businesses in our bilingual and bicultural region. The Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is recognized as the largest Latino organization in Arizona, with more than 1,100 member businesses representing tens of thousands of employees. http://www.tucsonhispanicchamber.org/home.html