With parents who instilled in her the values of hard work, Janet Sanchez already works tirelessly to address health disparities along the U.S.-Mexico border.
She is a community health educator who helps people access and follow-through with testing for colon cancer.
Sanchez also, in addition to earning a master’s of public health degree with a focus in community health education, also minored in U.S.-Mexico border health to gain become a more culturally competent professional. In her work as the National Cancer institute’s National Outreach Network (NON) Community Health Educator (CHE) at New Mexico State University, she helps address the burdens of disease and disability faced by local communities.
And because she wants to conduct research to make health professionals more aware of how they can promote healthy lifestyles among their patients, Sanchez decided to apply for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program, which offers a five-day summer institute and internships to encourage master’s-level students and health professionals to pursue a doctoral degree and a cancer research career.
Sanchez said the Éxito! Summer Institute increased her interest in pursuing a doctoral degree and is very confident she will apply to a doctoral program in the next year or so.