| Feb. 14, 2012
COPY BY: Rana McDonald, 806-651-2129, rmcdonald@wtamu.edu
Raul Ruiz to Present Distinguished Lecture at WTAMU
CANYON, Texas—The Distinguished Lecture Series at West Texas A&M University will welcome Dr. Raul Ruiz to campus in a public presentation at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. Ruiz, known for his accomplishments and dedication to helping underserved populations, is an emergency physician at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He also is the senior associate dean for community engagement and partnership and an assistant clinical professor for clinical sciences at the University of California—Riverside School of Medicine. He is director of the Coachella Valley Healthcare Initiative and works hard to improve public health and healthcare access there. Ruiz also founded a pre-med mentorship program, Future Physician Leaders, for students from underserved communities who want to be physicians and serve their communities. His tireless work has earned him numerous accolades including the 2011 Person of the Year award from The Desert Sun newspaper’s Desert Magazine and the 2009 Influential Latin of the Year Award from the Inland Empire Hispanic Image Awards. He also received the Commander’s Award for Public Service from the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne for his efforts as an early humanitarian responder as the founding medical director for the Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization. In 2010 he received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce and the San Gorgonio Pass Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Ruiz grew up in Coachella, Calif., with farm-worker parents and graduated from Coachella Valley High School. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles and graduated magna cum laude. He earned his medical degree at Harvard Medical School and a master’s degree in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He also completed a fellowship in international emergency medicine with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and earned a master’s degree in public health at Harvard School of Public Health. Ruiz is believed to be the first Latino to receive three graduate degrees at Harvard. In addition to his evening presentation, Ruiz also will meet with WTAMU students and area high school students earlier in the day. He will share his experiences as a child growing up in a migrant family, talk about the academic path he chose and how he serves his community. The Distinguished Lecture is free and open to the public. For more information about Ruiz and his presentation, call Dr. Dwight Vick at 806-651-3631 or Dr. Elsa Diego-Medrano at 806-651-2612.
—WTAMU— | 