6.1 Introduction to Ángel Velarde

Have you ever wondered who determined that we should go to the dentist twice a year, that babies should see the doctor on a particular schedule, or that driving without wearing a seatbelt should be illegal? These initiatives are thanks to public health, which focuses on researching health and safety and, based on those results, implementing changes to lead to better health outcomes. In this chapter, we talk to Ángel Velarde to get a sense of what it might be like to work in the world of public health. Let’s meet him!

Watch on Vimeo here

Transcript: “I’m Ángel Velarde. I came from Lima Peru in 2017, and I studied psychology and Spanish at St. Mary’s University. I’m currently doing a Master’s as a full time student while I’m working full time in public health. I’m currently working at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases as a Research Coordinator where I try to apply my investigational research skills as apply well as my Spanish-speaking skills, so I can enroll participants from different backgrounds or sometimes monolingual speakers, and also to help the community in San Antonio have a voice in research settings.”

As we’ll see in the coming videos, Ángel works on the San Antonio Heart and Mind Study, which seeks to, among other things, explore early signs of abnormal brain aging and the role of the environment on the brain’s health. Let’s learn more about what Ángel does every day in the next video!