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Civil rights activist Tony Bonilla has lived almost his entire life in the state of Texas. He
has spent more than 30 years working to bring issues confronting the Hispanic community to the
forefront of public debate. He works as a trial lawyer for the firm of Bonilla and Berlanga in
Corpus Christi, Texas, and he also serves as the chairperson of the National Hispanic Leadership
Conference, an organization he cofounded in 1983.
The top U.S. official serving the elderly, Josefina G. Carbonell has become a national leader
in innovative community services. When she accepted this position in 2001, she became the
highest-ranking Hispanic-American appointee to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Carbonell has earned respect from Republicans while working as CEO of the Little Havana Activities
and Nutrition Centers (LHANC) of Dade County, Florida, and as a national technical assistance
team member of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which fostered health clinics and employment
and housing programs for immigrants and refugees in Houston, Miami, and New Orleans. A federal
appointment in 2001 made her the first local service provider to head the nation's Administration
on Aging (AoA).
A specialist in cardiology and biomathematics, David Cardús is known for his work with
mathematical and computer applications for the study of physiological systems, as well as
for his research on experimental exercise and respiratory physiology.
Physician Enrique Hernández has a special interest in gynecologic oncology and has written
or co-written over 70 articles for medical journals. He also co-authored Manual of Gynecologic
Oncology with N. B. Rosenshein, M.D., and co-edited Clinical Gynecologic Pathology. He has been
the recipient of many awards, including the Bristol Award for outstanding academic achievements
and human qualities from the Puerto Rico Medical Association, and the resident teaching award
in 1989 and 1990 from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, where he serves as professor and
director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology. In 1994 Hernández received the Council on
Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology National Award for Excellence in Teaching at
the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He has also received funding awards for several research
studies involving cancer of the female reproductive system.
Maria Latigo Hernandez is best known for her life-long efforts to achieve justice, equality,
and educational opportunity for Hispanic Americans. Her work with organizations such as Orden
Caballeros de America, La Liga por Defensa Escobar, and La Raza Unida Party virtually chronicles
the Mexican American civil rights movement in Texas. She documented her social philosophy in her
book, Mexico y los cuatro poderes que dirigen al pueblo.
Aliza Lifshitz served as the 1992 president of the 1,300 member California Hispanic American
Medical Association. One of the first Latina physicians to become involved in the struggle
against AIDS, she devotes about one third of her Los Angeles practice to the care of people
diagnosed with the HIV virus. Many of her patients are undocumented workers, so-called illegal
aliens. "They come here seeking the American dream," she observed in an interview with Diana
Martinez. "Most of them are very young. And now they are alone, frightened and devastated by
this dreaded disease." In a public service ad taken out by the American Medical Association,
Lifshitz stated that "the first principle of medical ethics is to offer compassion and respect
for human dignity. For me, this pledge includes the illegal alien dying of AIDS... It is so easy
to stereotype these people simply as `illegals with AIDS.' But I want people to know they are
human, too. That they have a mother or a father or a child who will miss them when they are
gone." As part of her work she participates on AIDS committees for both the California Medical
Association and the Los Angeles Medical Association, as well as other state and private
organizations.
Mario Molina is an important figure in the development of a scientific understanding of our
atmosphere. Molina earned national prominence by theorizing, with fellow chemist F. Sherwood
Rowland, that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) deplete the Earth's ozone layer. In his years as a
researcher at the Jet Propulsion Lab at CalTech and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT), Molina has continued his investigations into the effects of chemicals on
the atmosphere.
Spanish-born botanist José Celestino Mutis gained renown in Spain and South America as a scientist
and teacher; he was also a physician and priest. He served as royal physician to Ferdinand VI before
going to the New World to pursue his interest in botany. A disciple of Swedish botanist Carolus
Linnaeus (Carl von Linné), he headed one of three royal botanical expeditions in South America,
ordered by Carlos III. Mutis's area of study was New Granada; he was responsible for the discovery
and classification of thousands of plants in South America.
Dr. Edith A. Perez, MD, is a distinguished physician and leader in clinical breast cancer research.
She heads the hematology/oncology program at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. Her commitment to
eradicating cancer through new and better treatments has earned her a place with today's top medical
researchers.
David Pimentel is professor of insect ecology and agricultural sciences at Cornell University
in Ithaca, New York. A widely recognized authority on ecologically sound methods of pest
control, sustainable agriculture, and the relationship between human populations and
environmental impacts, Pimentel has played a central role in national and international
environmental policies.
Teaching parents how to raise their children was a philosophy unheard of in 1973, and yet
Gloria Rodriguez took that idea and turned it into a lifelong mission to provide low-income
Hispanic mothers in Texas with basic parenting skills. As founder, executive director, and
CEO of Avance --a Spanish word meaning "advance"--Rodriguez has helped thousands of minority
women break the cycle of poverty, ignorance, and abuse through classes and programs designed
to develop healthy relationships with their children, and to assist the women in taking
control of their own lives through increased independence and enhanced self-esteem. As a
result of years of dedication and steady fundraising efforts, Avance is regarded as a unique
and phenomenal national success story among social service organizations. Considered a national
model by the federal government, Avance is one of ten national family literacy models cited in
the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy book, First Teachers. As Rodriguez told the
West Side Sun in 1991, "My greatest accomplishment is that we have kept the mission alive against
all odds.... After 18 years Avance is still expanding and in the national forefront."
Juan Carlos Romero is a renowned authority on the physiology of the kidney. In the past 30 years,
he has issued more than 175 research papers on the functioning of the kidney. As director of the
Hypertension Research Laboratories at the Mayo Clinic since 1982, he has been a prolific
investigator into the relationship of the kidney to the development of hypertension, or high
blood pressure.
Marta Sotomayor has devoted her life to improving the quality of life for Latinos in the United
States, particularly in the area of health care . An educator, author, and advocate of the Latino
elderly , Sotomayor is president of the National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCoA) in Washington,
D.C., and first vice president of the National Council of La Raza .
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(Last Modified: October 10, 2003)
