Dr. Marsha Griffin, Director

MarshaGriffin, MD, is director of Community for Children, and pediatricclinical faculty member for the UTHSCSA Regional Academic HealthCenter. She is currently in practice at the Brownsville CommunityHealth Center. Dr. Griffin received her medical degree from the UTHSCSAin 2003 and completed her residency in general pediatrics at BaylorCollege of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and the University of TexasHealth Science Center at San Antonio in June 2006. Prior to her medicalcareer, Dr. Griffin completed graduate studies in the theology ofsocial justice at United Theological Seminary in New Brighton,Minnesota. She was founder and, from 1988 to 1999, executive directorof the FOCUS Foundation, a nonprofit organization that produceddocumentary films concerning adolescents and their struggle forsuccess. As director of housing services for the Central CommunityHousing Trust in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 1996 to 1999, she wasinstrumental in developing housing and services in the inner-city forhomeless, former addicts, Somalian refugees, and street children. Alifelong advocate for the underserved, Dr. Griffin has served as aboard member for numerous community-based organizations both nationallyand internationally and provided care in countries such as Haiti,Ecuador and Nicaragua.

Dr. Minnette Son, Course Director

MinnetteSon, MD, is associate professor of pediatrics in the Division ofCritical Care, Department of Pediatrics at the University of TexasHealth Science Center at San Antonio and medical director of the JaneyBriscoe Children's Center Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at UniversityHospital in San Antonio. In 1979 she graduated from the UTHSCSAGraduate School of Biomedical Sciences and received her medical degreefrom the UTHSCSA in 1990 where she also completed her residency inpediatrics and, in 2000, her fellowship in pediatric critical care. Dr.Son is a consultant to the Texas Traumatic Brain Injury AdvisoryCouncil and member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and otherprofessional organizations. Her clinical and research interests includecerebral vascular responses and child abuse treatment and prevention.Dr. Son has traveled internationally, performing lifesaving surgerieson children in Mongolia, Kosovo and other developing countries. She hasdeveloped expertise in providing medical care in situations of extremepoverty and limited resources, serving on projects in Africa andCentral and South America.

Dr. Stan Fisch, Curriculum Advisor

StanleyI. Fisch, MD, is professor and pediatric program director for theUTHSCSA Regional Academic Health Center. He is one of four partners atHarlingen Pediatric Associates, Inc., a clinical rotation site forUTHSCSA medical students. He graduated from Albert Einstein College ofMedicine, Bronx, New York in 1970 and completed his internship andpediatric residency at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center, Bronx,New York (1973). Dr. Fisch traveled to South Texas as a member of theNational Health Corp with a two-year service commitment. Dr. Fisch wasappointed to the medical staff at Valley Baptist Medical Center inHarlingen in 1973, an appointment he has held for 33 years, while alsoin general pediatrics private practice. Dr. Fisch is an advocate forchildren's health and a community leader, serving on numerous boards ofdirectors and committees at local, state and national levels. Inrecognition of his efforts, Dr. Fisch received the 2006 Job Lewis Awardfor Leadership in Community Pediatrics from the American Academy ofPediatrics.

Dr. Joseph B. McCormick

JosephB. McCormick, MD, is regional dean at the University of Texas HealthScience Center Houston School of Public Health-Brownsville. Hegraduated from Duke University Medical School in 1967 and received hisMaster of Science from Harvard School of Public Health, through anintercalated program. Dr. McCormick completed his internship andresidency at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia under Dr. C. EverettKoop. In 1974 he became an epidemic intelligence service officer at theCenters for Disease Control, and a fellow in Preventive Medicine. As aphysician and researcher, Dr. McCormick has devoted the past 35 yearsto the pursuit of research and direct intervention in global publichealth, with a focus on epidemiology and international health, andworked on projects in South America, Africa, Europe and the MiddleEast. His awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, andhumanitarian awards from Florida Southern College and Duke UniversityMedical School. Dr. McCormick has more than 200 scientific publicationswith co-authors from more than 20 different countries.

Dr. Sue Fisher-Hoch

SueFisher-Hoch, MD, PhD, is professor of epidemiology at the University ofTexas Health Science Center Houston School of PublicHealth-Brownsville. She attended the Royal Free Hospital School ofMedicine in England and then attended Oxford, training in virology,gaining membership in the Royal College of Pathology, a master's degreein microbiology, and a doctoral degree in epidemiology. She was centralto the discovery that the parvovirus B19 was responsible for Fifth'sDisease (Slapped Cheek Syndrome), and uncovered the role of potablewater in the spread of Legionnaire's Disease in hospitals and otherlarge buildings. She has worked in the United States, Europe, China,Thailand, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and many countries in Africa. In 1997she took charge of the design, building and scientific program of a newBSL4 suit laboratory in Lyon, France, for which she was awarded theChevalier de la Legion d'Honneur.

Dr. Robert Luis Hamilton

Dr. Hamilton is Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology, Hospital Infantil de Tamaulipas/Secretaria de Salud de Tamaulipas and Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Autónoma of Tamaulipas. He is also a Professor in the Pediatrics Endocrinology Residency program at Hospital Infantil. He has worked with Hospital Infantil de Tamaulipas since 2000 in the Department of Endocrinology, and serves the State of Tamaulipas Health Secretariat caring for low-income and underprivileged children. His clinical and research interests include Congenital Hypothyroidism and Type 1 Diabetes. Dr. Hamilton oversees the endocrinology laboratory for the State of Tamaulipas Newborn Screening program for Congenital Hypothyroidism, processing over 30,000 samples a year. He also supervises the Diabetes program at Hospital Infantil de Tamaulipas and the Diabetes Camps each year.

Dr. Hamilton grew up in Los Angeles, California, but has lived in Mexico for more than 30 years and greatly enjoys working with the Mexican people. He graduated from the School of Medicine University of Autónoma de Nuevo Leon in 1997. After finishing medical school, he received an invitation from a friend to work at the Children’s Hospital in Ciudad Victoria. There he met his future wife and at the end of his fellowship married and received a teaching position in pediatrics at the University of Monte Morelos, where he taught from 1992-1996 and 1998 through 2000. Dr. Hamilton worked as a medical missionary for almost 8 years.

Catherine Monserrat, PhD

Catherine Monserrat holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, a Master’s in Guidance and Counseling and an undergraduate degree in Secondary Education and Human Development. With over thirty years experience working as an educator, lecturer, and psychotherapist, she continues to teach and mentor health professionals, educators and counselors.

Throughout her life, Dr. Monserrat has taken leadership in numerous initiatives to enhance the quality of life of individuals and families within community. Working with local communities, as well as on state and national levels, she has developed programs and curricula addressing family life, parenting, adoption, teen pregnancy and child abuse prevention. Her expertise in adolescent pregnancy, parenting and prevention led her to become a consultant to the U.S. Office of Population Affairs, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., Foundation. She also serves as a Legislative Analyst for the New Mexico State Legistature.

Dr. Monserrat is the author of four books and numerous articles for both professional and popular publications. She serves as faculty at the Santa Fe Graduate Institute, and presents at conferences throughout the United States and Canada.

Father Michael Seifert

Father Michael Seifert is a Roman Catholic priest currently serving as the pastor of San Felipe de Jesus Church in Cameron Park. Cameron Park is the poorest town in the USA (Census 2000), with a per capita income less than that of El Salvador, Guatemala or Mexico. Its economic poverty belies the wealth of resources in the community. Fr. Seifert has been a part of a ten year effort by Cameron Park residents to transform the colonia. Seifert has worked extensively with community leaders, bringing about an 800% increase in voter participation. As a result, the community garnered more than $ 7 million in infrastrucuture improvements (paved roads and storm drains), a new park, a sheriff's substation, a satellite clinic, and a community services' center.

Seifert graduated with a Masters Degree in Theology in 1984 from Catholic University in Washington DC. He served in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca after ordination, where he saw the power of grassroots' organizing in a situation of extreme oppression and poverty. He worked for several years in Harlingen and La Joya, as a member of the United Farmworkers' Union and Valley Interfaith, before founding Proyecto Digna in Cameron Park in 1997.

Since 1989, Seifert has worked with Proyecto Vida Digna, in Matamoros, Mexico. Proyecto Vida Digna is a community organizing project that focuses upon the struggles of the families of women who work in foreign-owned factories in Mexico.

He has served on the Rio Grande Valley Health Services District, and is presently involved with several efforts at protecting immigrants' human rights.