Dr. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos Wins National Hispanic Medical Association Leadership Award

Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, Professor and Director of NYU Silver's Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH), has been selected to receive the 2017 Hispanic Health Leadership Award from the philanthropic arm of the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA).

The award, which recognizes outstanding individuals who have served in significant leadership roles and have improved the health of Hispanics and other underserved populations, will be presented at the NHMA foundation's annual Hispanic Health Professional Student Scholarship Gala on November 30, 2017, at the New York Academy of Medicine.

"I am truly honored to have been chosen for the recognition," said Dr. Guilamo-Ramos. "The National Hispanic Medical Association plays a critical role in improving the health of Hispanics and other underserved populations and in addressing persistent health disparities through its research, education and charitable activities."

Dr. Guilamo-Ramos is licensed as a clinical social worker (LCSW) and nurse practitioner (NP) with prescriptive privileges in New York State and is board certified in HIV/AIDS Nursing (ACRN). A leading expert in the role of families in promoting adolescent health, his research focuses on preventing HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancies; parent-adolescent communication; intervention programs; and alcohol and drug use.

In addition, Dr. Guilamo-Ramos has expertise in the clinical management of HIV+ adolescents, provision of PrEP for high-risk youths, and screening and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. He has conducted research primarily in urban, resource-poor settings, including New York City's South Bronx, Harlem, and Lower East Side communities, and parts of Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.

In 2010, Dr. Guilamo-Ramos founded CLAFH in order to investigate the role of the Latino family in shaping the development, health and overall well-being of Latino adolescents. Strategically based in New York City, CLAFH addresses the needs of New York's diverse Latino communities in both the national and global context and serves as a link between the scientific community, Latino health and social service providers, and the broader Latino community.

Dr. Guilamo-Ramos has been the principal investigator of numerous National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other federally funded research grants for his work on adolescent risk behavior. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of a Centers for Disease Control and Office of Adolescent Health-funded grant to develop and formally evaluate a teen pregnancy prevention intervention that targets Black and Latino adolescent males and their fathers in the South Bronx.

The program, entitled Fathers Raising Responsible Men, fills a gap in existing efforts to prevent teen pregnancy by engaging fathers as a unique source of influence on young men's sexual behaviors and targeting young men of color who are at elevated risk.

Among his many other significant achievements, Dr. Guilamo-Ramos is the Director of the Pilot and Mentoring Core at the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research, a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded multidisciplinary research center housed within the NYU College of Nursing. He is a graduate of the 2016 class of Presidential Leadership Scholars, a unique initiative for select leaders that draws upon the U.S. presidential centers of Lyndon B. Johnson, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. Also, he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, an honorific society of distinguished scholars and practitioners dedicated to achieving excellence in the field of social work and social welfare through high-impact work that advances social good.

Dr. Guilamo-Ramos is also Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Latino Commission on AIDS (LCOA). LCOA President Guillermo Chac�n, who is also Founder of the Hispanic Health Network, nominated Dr. Guilamo-Ramos for the award. Chac�n stated, "Dr. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos is a distinguished public health leader. Dr. Guilamo-Ramos has been exceptional at bringing forth innovative research related to adolescent health and for Black and Latino high-risk youth. He is a researcher who has shown commitment and passion for the work that he does around Latino adolescent and family health."

For more information, visit https://www.latinoaids.org/