{"id":2942,"date":"2023-02-23T08:17:03","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T14:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iimsprod.wpengine.com\/pbrn\/?page_id=2942"},"modified":"2025-12-22T10:25:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T16:25:03","slug":"our-team","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iims.uthscsa.edu\/ce\/community-engagement\/our-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Rebecca A. Jones, PhD<\/h3>\n

Community & Stakeholder Engagement Director\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rebecca Jones, PhD, MS is the Director for Community & Stakeholder Engagement at the Institute for Integration of Medicine & Science at UT Health San Antonio. She holds a doctorate in Applied Demography from the School of Public Policy at UTSA. She also holds an MS degree in Health and Kinesiology, with an emphasis in community health and biostatistics and a BS in Kinesiology with an emphasis in physiology from UTSA. She has over 10 years of experience in program evaluation, research design, and statistical analyses. Her areas of focus include health systems research, health disparities, and structural determinants of health. <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”2950″ img_size=”100×133″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Elisabeth Martinez de la Rosa, MS, CHW<\/h3>\n

Research Operations Manager – Community & Stakeholder Engagement <\/strong><\/p>\n

Elisabeth develops and implements programs that foster and sustain community-academic research partnerships for health research. She has experience coordinating research studies and programs, and has worked closely with diverse partners to develop, implement, and evaluate initiatives addressing critical health issues such as diabetes, environmental health, teen pregnancy, and suicide prevention. She has organized successful IIMS Community Engagement Symposia for over a decade, emphasizing how collaborations can build trust and drive impactful health research. She is the administrator for the Community Engagement Small Projects Grants Program and co-leads the annual Public Health Camp, aimed at expanding public health workforce capacity by engaging high school students. Elisabeth serves on several boards and committees including the UT Health SA Office of Outreach and Health Access Advisory Council, the National Community Engagement Enterprise Committee for CTSAs, the Northwest Vista College CHW Advisory Board, and EISD Families for Community Safety. She is a sociologist by training and a Texas state-certified Community Health Worker.\u00a0 In addition, Elisabeth is a Translational Science PhD student studying how to\u00a0 embed user-centered approaches to enhance community-engaged research. \u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”3537″ img_size=”100×133″ css=””][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Inez Cruz, PhD<\/h3>\n

Director – IIMS PBRN Resource Center & Residency Research Network of Texas (RRNeT)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Cruz has served as the Director of the IIMS Practice-Based Research Network Resource Center and the Director of the Residency Research Network of Texas (RRNeT) since 2018. Under her leadership, RRNeT\u2019s Family Medicine faculty and residents have collaboratively developed new multi-site research projects addressing PBRN member priorities such as social determinants of health and quality of life, comfort with uncertainty among trainees, physician burnout, and demonstrating accountability to payers and regulators. Additionally, Dr. Cruz is an Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, where she primarily conducts qualitative health services research. She is also the Director of Community Engagement and Partnerships for the Kate Marmion School of Public Health.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”2946″ img_size=”100×133″ css=””][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Kathleen Stevens, EdD, RN, ANEF, FAAN<\/h3>\n

Community Engagement Co-Investigator<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Stevens is the Director of the Improvement Science Research Network (ISRN) which aims to advance the scientific foundation for quality improvement, safety and efficiency through transdisciplinary research in healthcare systems, patient-centeredness, and integration of evidence into practice. Dr. Stevens was the founding director of ACE-Center for Advancing Clinical Excellence 2000-2015, leading interprofessional efforts to advance evidence-based quality improvement and patient safety. Her federally funded activities emphasize healthcare transformation through scholarly work on the national Improvement Science Research Network, AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange, Institute of Medicine\u2019s report Preventing Medication Errors, and team performance improvement. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the Academy of Nurse Educators and is the UT System Chancellor\u2019s Health Fellow for healthcare delivery science.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”2945″ img_size=”100×133″ css=””][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Melissa Valerio-Shewmaker, PhD, MPH<\/h3>\n

Community Engagement Co-Investigator<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Valerio-Shewmaker is an Associate Professor at the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Brownsville. Dr. Valerio-Shewmaker and her team provide research and technical assistance to the Translational Advisory Boards (TABs) and other community-based organizations to help them respond to prioritized health concerns. Dr. Valerio-Shewmaker’s research interests include using community-based research approaches for chronic disease management and prevention, the design and evaluation of effective health education messages and materials, and survey methods. She is particularly interested in health literacy and cultural competence issues related to health education and communication in minority underserved communities.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”3862″ img_size=”100×133″ css=””][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Ariel Gomez, MPH, CHES, CHW<\/h3>\n

Community Engagement Co-Investigator<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ms. Gomez is the recently appointed lead of the South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC) but has been with the center since 2014. She has a decade of experience connecting with communities and other community-based organizations to evidence-based health promotion initiatives. She has also served as a mentor and now leads rotating students of all levels. Coming from a rural background, she is dedicated to cultivating the next wave of healthcare professionals by working with students to understand the varying needs of the communities in South Texas and working with academic and community partners to improve health outcomes for vulnerable and underrepresented communities. She received her Master\u2019s in Public Health in Health Promotion and Behavioral Science with a health disparities certificate from the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health San Antonio.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column width=”1\/3″][\/vc_column][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″]