BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Bringing together healthcare providers, researchers, faculty, advocates, and community leaders from across South Texas and the nation, Latinx Voces hosted its second annual Voces Health Summit at the Brownsville Events Center.
Founded during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 by public health expert and Brownsville native Dr. Paulina Sosa-Quintanilla, Harlingen-headquartered Latinx Voces organized the three-day summit under the core theme: "Bridging Health and Culture".
The nonprofit was set up to empower communities by advancing health access, community well-being, and cultural representation through education, storytelling, data, partnerships, and community-centered advocacy.
"We are here to really amplify the theme of bridging health and culture," said Sosa-Quintanilla, executive director of Latinx Voces. "We have brought together partners, community leaders, community health workers, researchers, faculty,and advocates from the Rio Grande Valley and beyond—folks from New Mexico to Minnesota—to talk about health and the importance of being creative and thinking out of the box when we approach health topics in our community, especially in the Latino community".
The summit addressed critical healthcare challenges, including chronic disease prevention, mental health, emergency preparedness, and rural health equity.
Dr. Luis R. Torres-Hostos, founding dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), emphasized the summit's essential role in confronting regional healthcare disparities.
"If we don't have health, we have nothing," Torres-Hostos stated. "The health of our community is paramount, and we live in a community with serious health challenges. About a third of the population of the Rio Grande Valley is uninsured, and another significant percentage is underinsured—meaning premiums or procedure costs are so high they may as well not have insurance".
Torres-Hostos noted that systemic travel barriers and provider shortages reinforce the need for localized health solutions.
"We are landlocked in a way," Torres-Hostos explained. "There are people in our community who can't travel north past the checkpoints because of mixed documentation status in their families, even if that family member needs healthcare. So we need to figure out how to provide the healthcare that our communities need right here in our communities".
To improve accessibility and engagement following feedback from last year's inaugural conference, organizers shifted to a larger venue at the Brownsville Events Center and introduced new session structures, including fast-paced 12-to-15-minute "flash talks," expanded indoor exhibitor spaces, and academic poster sessions.
"We're building on the lessons learned to make it more relevant and accessible," Torres-Hostos said. "We have four or five times the number of exhibitors we had last year, and we incorporated poster sessions and short-format presentations to zero in on solutions".
Organizers view the Valley as a vital national framework for health equity research and grassroots implementation.
"What we are doing in the Rio Grande Valley is incredibly innovative—we're leaning into the strengths of our communities with limited resources," Torres-Hostos noted. "The Valley is 94% Hispanic, serving as a national laboratory. What we do here has relevance to minority-majority communities across the country, and what other communities are doing can help guide us".
Sosa-Quintanilla confirmed that Latinx Voces plans to make the summit an annual staple for regional and national health alignment.
"This is just the start," Sosa-Quintanilla said. "We look forward to continuing to grow, expand, and think creatively as we move forward".
