February 28, 2013
To Whom It May Concern,
I am pleased to write a letter of recommendation for Silvia Salinas-Lopez who is applying to the
DHPE Minority Health Internship Summer Program 2014.
Silvia is a student in the Master of Public Health program at UTEP. I have had the priviledge of
having Mrs. Salinas-Lopez as a student in my Environmental Health Science class (PUBH 5304)
in her first semester of the MPH where she has been a dedicated student and achieved the highest
grades and my deepest respect. Silvia also holds a degree from the Medical School in Chihuahua,
Mexico where I know she worked as a health provider with underrepresented populations such as
the “Tarahumara Indians.” Furthermore, she has been working under my supervision since
January 2013 as a Teaching Assistant where she has been fulfilling all the requirements and
performing an excellent job. This semester, she is the TA for my undergraduate classes named
Research for the Health Professional (HCSI 3315) and Family Life & Human Sexuality (HSCI
4303).
Regarding public health, in my courses, is to approach community health and work together for
the common purpose of promoting health, preventing disease and improving life quality.
Therefore, one of the requirements in my class is to prepare in small groups on as selected health
issue of common interest to the group members and consecutively transmit the importance of
issue to the community. As a group, we participated in an event in 2012 at the Health Fair in San
Elizario, Texas where Silvia’s team participation was innovative and crative. The presentation
was related to household toxins and environmental health called “What in your closet.” As a
groupn they delivered a warning message to the community focusing on the toxicity of common
and daily products that are used in almost evey american house. Most inportantly, they informed
the community about the association of those products with the future development of disease.
In order to be successful in the program, the student requires an outstanding attitude, extensive
research, and persuasive skills therefore beforehand I know that the Master of Public Health is
challenging her to improve her skills and complementing her to become better health care
professional. Therefore, no matter what decision she makes for her future, I visualize her with a
great development in the health professional career.
In summary, I highly recommend Silvia Salinas-Lopez for the DHPE Minority Health Internship
Summer Program 2014. I think she is a talented student that will be an ideal candidate for the
scholarship award and will positively take advantage of this opportunity.
Sincerely,
Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia, MD, MSErg, PhD
Lecturer/Research Scholar
Department of Public Health Science
College of Health Sciences
The University of Texas at El Paso
(915) 747-7270