{"id":220801,"date":"2023-05-03T11:29:03","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T15:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=220801"},"modified":"2023-05-11T14:45:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T18:45:26","slug":"american-heart-association-hsi-scholars-share-research-findings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2023\/05\/03\/american-heart-association-hsi-scholars-share-research-findings\/","title":{"rendered":"American Heart Association HSI Scholars Share Research Findings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six Montclair State University students, along with two dozen others from across the country, recently presented their research findings and were honored with medals as part of the American Heart Association\u2019s Hispanic Serving Institutions Scholars Program\u2019s Spring Research Symposium at University Hall\u2019s Conference Center.<\/p>\n

Students heard from a number of speakers, including Montclair\u2019s Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Junius Gonzales, who served as the keynote speaker. He shared his circuitous route from \u201ca vermin-infested tenement\u201d in Hartford, Conn., to medical school and now higher education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been incredibly fortunate. I’ve taken leaps into some big unknowns,\u201d he said in his keynote. \u201cScholars, never forget who you are and where you came from because it sets the stage for who you will become.\u201d He urged students to \u201ctake leaps, take chances and take risks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Junius
Once a practicing medical doctor and now Montclair\u2019s Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Junius Gonzales was the keynote speaker. He urged students to \u201ctake leaps, take chances and take risks.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cardiologist Dr. Carlos Rodriguez, a physician researcher at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, urged students to continue to pursue their dreams of careers in medicine, health care and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not really well represented in medicine and in science, and these young Latino students need to know that because I did it and others have done it, it is possible,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a long, hard road, but it is possible. And the AHA was a big part of it, especially when I started my cardiology career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Many
Dozens of students, including Yaire Hernandez, bottom right, presented posters as part of the American Heart Association\u2019s Hispanic Serving Institutions Scholars Program\u2019s Spring Research Symposium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The AHA HSI Scholars Program<\/a> is in its second year. Funded by Secaucus-based Quest Diagnostics\u00ae, the program works with 18 Hispanic-serving colleges and universities in Los Angeles, Puerto Rico, Miami, Houston, Chicago, New York and now New Jersey to increase representation in health care. Montclair had the most student scholars at the symposium with six: Yaire Hernandez, Lizet Negrete and Melissa Spigelman, all juniors, senior Kenneth Mosquera-Reinoso, and sophomores Wendy E. Islas and Jeffrey Yumbla.<\/p>\n

Mitzi Cardona, AHA\u2019s portfolio advisor for Collegiate Diversity Partnerships \u2013 Hispanic-Serving Institutions, said the scholars were paired with their mentors at the beginning of the academic year with the goal of developing the posters presented at the symposium in April. \u201cIt’s given some students the opportunity to further develop their research experience and those that don’t have that experience to obtain it,\u201d she said. \u201cMontclair specifically had a diversity of student majors, and that’s what their research represented.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students presented their poster boards to attendees and answered questions:<\/p>\n