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Cavazos, Diana

Contact

210-450-5356

cavazosdm@uthscsa.edu

Diana Cavazos, PhD, MHSA, MSN, CMI, BSN, RN

Associate Professor/Clinical

I am an accomplished Registered Nurse with a 25-year nursing career. I have worked with multicultural populations, focusing efforts on susceptible communities, including Hispanic communities struggling with migrant issues, intimate partner violence against women, opioid use disorder, and homelessness. As an Associate Professor/Clinical at UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, my leadership and interventions have focused on creating awareness and solutions to address health equity as social justice for vulnerable populations.  

I have been in Academia since 2009 and I have continuously developed and executed educational models that encourage students to implement clinical skills that are culturally competent and serve communities with specific needs.  I believe in learning evidence-based concepts and putting them into practice in realistic scenarios with different backgrounds, in order to understand a diversity of patients and be inclusive when providing healthcare.

I am a proud mother of two young adults and have lived in San Antonio, Texas since 2014. I have traveled the world to expand my cultural awareness and cultural competence, and I am constantly looking for opportunities to help our community.

  • Professional Background

    Education

    • 2018 - Doctor of Philosophy - Education - International Iberoamerican University
    • 2010 - Master of Science in Nursing - Maternal/Neonatal track/Nursing Education - University of Puerto Rico
    • 2002 - Master of Health Science - Health Services Administration - Southwest University of Louisiana
    • 1997 - Bachelor of Science in Nursing - Nursing (Summa Cum Laude) - Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, School of Nursing
    • 1989 - Associate of Arts - Liberal Arts - Brevard Community College
    • 1984 - Division of Professional Licensure - Surgical Technology - Texas State Technical College

    Highlights

    Licensures and Certifications

    • Death Doula Cert. IAP Career College
    • Foster Care Orientation/Cert.
    • Registered Nurse 
    • CPR Instructor Cert.
    • Medical Interpreter

    Honors and Awards

    • 2022 Nurse Imagemaker of S. Texas Texas Nurses Association, District 8, Delta Alpha Chpt at Large. San Antonio, TX. 
    • 2021 Volunteer Appreciation Award from Natl Association of Hispanic Nurses, San Antonio, TX. 
    • 2021 Best 25 Nurses in South Texas, San Antonio, TX

    Appointments

    • 2023 - Associate Professor/Clinical - UT Health San Antonio
    • 2019 - Assistant Professor/Clinical - UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2019 - Harm Reduction Trainer - UT Health San Antonio
    • 2019 - NOVAVAX Clinical Trial Clinical Nurse - UTHSCSA, School of Medicine
    • 2015 - Certified Medical Interpreter - University Health Systems, San Antonio, TX

  • Instruction & Training

    • 2023, NURS.3305.005 Foundations of Clinical Nursing Practice: Skills Lab, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2023, NURS.3305.005 Foundations of Clinical Nursing Practice: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2023, NURS.4217.010 Population Focused Health: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2023, NURS.4533.10OB Disease Management III: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2021, NURS 6320 Theoretical Foundations for Advanced Nursing Practice, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2021, Medical Interpreter-Spanish language, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2020 - Present, NURS.4217 Population Focused Health: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2020 - Present, NURS.4227 Population Focused Health: Clinical Applications, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2020, NURS.4533 OB Disease Management III: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2019 - 2020, NURS.3305 Foundations of Clinical Nursing Practice: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2019, NURS.3371 Foundations of Nursing Care: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing
    • 2019 - 2020, NURS.3208 Care of Childbearing Families: Clinical Application, UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing

  • Research & Grants

    Grants

    • 2022 Fetal-Infant Mortality Report (FIMR): A program to identify and improve social determinants of health responsible for fetal and infant mortality in San Antonio, Texas. Collaboration with City of San Antonio and UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing.  (Pending approval) 
    • 2022 – Present University of California in San Francisco and the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) San Antonio Chapter and the Alzheimer's Association (ALZ): A study to improve recruitment of Latino/Hispanic communities in dementia research by leveraging the infrastructure and goodwill of trusted national organizations. 
    • 2019 – 2020 NOVAVAX Clinical Trial Clinical Nurse at UT Health San Antonio School of Medicine, San Antonio, TX. A Study to evaluate the eficacy, immune response, and safety of a COVID-19 Vaccine in Adults ≥ 18 Years and a future pediatric expansion. 

  • Service

    School

    • 2021-2022, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing Participant in university marketing campaign Everything it takes. 
    • 2020 - Present, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing,  Street Nursing San Antonio/Advisor 
    • 2019 - Present, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Holistic Admissions Review Team/Member/Evaluator 
    • 2019 - Present, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Hispanic Student Nurses Association/Advisor 
    • 2019 - Present, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Committee on International Programs/Chair 
    • 2020, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Whitecoat ceremony/Cloaker 
    • 2020, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Medical Interpreter course/developer 
    • 2020, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Population Focused Health course presentation of Street Nursing/Presenter 
    • 2020, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Care of Childbearing Families course presentation of Cultural Competence 
    • 2020, UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Group interview for faculty candidates 

    Institutional

    • 2023   UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Trip to Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca Mexico to evaluate clinical experiences program for International Programs Committee
    • 2023   Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Symposium, Nalaxone use training. Corpus Christi
    • 2023   UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Hosted Students and faculty from Asahi University, Japan, participating in Street Nursing.
    • 2023   UT-Long School of Medicine, Medical Spanish Instructor to Pediatric Residents
    • 2023   UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Collaboration with International Programs Committee to coordinate visit to from Universidad de Coahuila in Saltillo, Mexico.                                                                                      
    • 2021-2022  UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, Participant in university marketing campaign Everything it takes.
    • 2021   UT office of recruitment and science  Speaker outreach Pre Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP) Camp.

    Service to the Profession

    • 2022- Present, Monitor, Casa Mia transitional home
    • 2021- Present, Monitor, Corazon Ministries drop-in center
    • 2019 - Present, Clinical Nurse Street Medicine San Antonio 
    • 2019 - Present, Instructor Stop the Bleed & Stop the Bleed, Spanish Version 
    • 2019 - Present, Board Member Natl Assoc. of Hispanic Nurses 
    • 2019 - Present, Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps of San Antonio 
    • 2020, COVID19 Call Center S. Texas Regional Advisor Council
    • 2020, COVID19 Mass Vaccination, City of San Antonio Alamodome 
    • 2020, COVID19 Mass Vaccination, UT Health San Antonio, SON 
    • 2020, COVID19 Mobile Vaccination Volunteer City of San Antonio/SA Fire Department 
    • 2020, Interviewee on COVID19 issues Telemundo Newscast 

    STUDENT MENTEES/TRAINEES

    2023  Juan Zuniga, DNP student, mentor for doctoral project at Street Nursing San Antonio/Corazon Ministries SA

    2023  Asma Jan, DNP student, mentor for doctoral project at Street Nursing San Antonio/Corazon Ministries SA

    2023  Doctoral committee for student Brieanna Flowers

     

    Professional Affiliations

    2019 - Present, National Association of Hispanic Faculty

    2019 - Present, National Association of Hispanic Nurses

    National

    Consultations 

    • 2023, Universidad de Coahuila, Saltillo, Mexico, Conversation on how to implement Street Nursing program as a Community Initiative
    • 2023, University of Puerto Rico Initiation of Street Nursing as a Yadira Regueira, Faculty Population Health Clinical Course
    • 2021, UTRGV Brownsville, Medical Interpreter Program Margaret Ruby-faculty development
    • 2020, USF College of Nursing, Tampa FL, Initiation of Street Medicine 
    • 2020, USF College of Nursing, Tampa FL, Interdisciplinary interaction through  Committee of International Programs 
    • 2020, University of Puerto Rico, Initiation of Stop the Bleed, Spanish version 

    Community

    • 2023  Panelist in Casa Mia Mom’s lunch Panel, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrom Symposium
    • 2022 Clinical volunteer during Street2Feet 5k race Street2Feet, San Antonio, Texas for the homeless.  
    • 2022 COVID19 vaccination clinic to homeless Corazon Ministries, San Antonio, Texas population.  
    • 2021 – Present Clinical volunteer implementing Corazon Ministries, San Antonio Texas harm reduction interventions 
    • 2021 Community informant Interviewed numerous occasions, in Spanish, by Telemundo, an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network, to inform the Hispanic community about Covid19 pandemic current issues. 
    • 2021 Community informant Spanish language interview by Univision, an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network, to inform the Hispanic community about Covid19 pandemic current issues. 
    • 2021 Panelist Fort Sam Houston presentation on Domestic Violence Awareness month. 
    • 2021 Speaker UT office of recruitment and science outreach Pre JAMP Camp. 
    • 2019 - 2020, Clinical volunteer Street Medicine, San Antonio Texas 
    • 2019 - 2020, Clinical volunteer Providence Place-My Mariposa Program 
    • 2019, Community volunteer Migrant Resource Center of San Antonio 
    • 2013 - 2014, Community volunteer San Antonio Battered Women’s Shelter  

  • Publications

      Peer-reviewed Articles (*indicates data-based) 

      • Cavazos, D. (2022, February). Promoting student nurses’ medical Spanish proficiency: Brief report. Hispanic Health Care International. Submitted for peer review. 
      • Cavazos, D. (2022, January). Street nursing: Teaching and improving community health: Brief report. Hispanic Health Care International. Accepted for publishing subject to amendments proposed. 
      • Cavazos, D., Naqvi, S., Cantu, Y., Ong’uti, S., Johnson, A., Salazar, C., Morrow, G., Camden, T., Santos, N., Armitige, L., Ringsdorf, L., & Taylor, B. (2021, July). Successes and challenges of latent tuberculosis screening and treatment in a high prevalence U.S. region. The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.  Accepted for publishing subject to amendments proposed. 
      • Cavazos, D. (2018, June). Violencia entre pareja íntima en contra de la mujer: Un análisis de empoderamiento a través de la educación. Electronic Journal of Research and Teaching. https://revistaselectronicas.ujaen.es/index.php/reid/article/view/3469  

      Non-Peer-reviewed Articles (i. e. editorials, news articles, etc.) 

      • Cavazos, D. (2011, June). La presencia de enfermería en Haití. Revista Impulso-College of Nursing Magazine, 2, 5-10. 
      • Cavazos, D. (2011). Eres modelo. Revista CREECE en tu negocio,1(2),16. 

      Invited Podium Presentations (i. e. keynotes presentations)  

      • 2023 UT Street Nursing: Nursing education without walls. 1st Annual School of Nursing Research Retreat: Innovative Approaches to Addressing the Impacts of Social Determinants of Health. (Presenter)
      • 2023 UT Street Nursing: Nursing education without walls. UT MD Anderson Center Innovation in Health Science Education Annual Conference: Diversity, collaboration, and opportunities incurrent health science education. (Presenter)
      • 2023 UT Street Nursing: Nursing education without walls. Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Symposium. Corpus Christi.
      • 2022 UT Street Nursing: Nursing education without walls. Cultural Inclusion Institute Annual Conference. (Presenter)
      • 2022 Teaching and improving community health. Texas Board of Nurses quarterly meeting, Austin, Texas. (Guest speaker)
      • 2021 Exploring nursing students’ medical Spanish proficiency. National Association of Hispanic Nurses annual conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Podium presentation) 
      • 2019 Lost in translation: A nurse‘s perspective on safe patient care for limited English proficiency (LEP) patients., San Antonio Nursing Consortium, National Association of  Hispanic Nurses, San Antonio, TX (Keynote Speaker) 
      • 2012 Nursing Presence in Haiti, Caribbean Medical Association XVI International Seminar, Caribbean Medical Association, Habana, Cuba (Invited Speaker) 

       

      Peer Reviewed Poster Presentations  

      • Bigler, E., Cavazos, D. M., Cleveland, L. M., and Worabo, H. J. (2023, February). Increasing utilization of mindfulness practices through a program for mothers recovering from opioid use disorder [Poster session]. 2023 16th Annual CSL Conference: Mental Health is Public Health, San Antonio, Texas.
      • Alonzo, A., Cavazos, D. M., Cleveland, L. M., Emmerich, A., Mathias, C. W., and Wang, Z.  (2022, June).  An Opioid overdose prevention training in Texas during the COVID-19 public health emergency Declaration [Poster session].  2022 STRAC Regional Emergency Healthcare Systems Conference, San Antonio, TX.
      • Cavazos, D. M. (2022, March 24-25). Street nursing: Teaching and improving community health [Poster session]. Texas Substance Use Symposium 2022, Corpus Christy, Texas.
      • Mathias, C. W., Cavazos, D. M., Emmerich, A., Scott, L., Wang, Z., & Cleveland, L. M.  (2022, May).  Fighting an epidemic in a pandemic: Naloxone distribution and training under COVID-19 restrictions [Poster session]. 12th annual IIMS/CTSA Frontiers of Translational Science Research Day, San Antonio, TX.  – Recognized with the Senior Faculty Award
      • Cavazos, D. M., Cleveland, L. M., Emmerich, A., Mathias, C. W., & Wang, Z. (2022, March 24-25). Overdose prevention and education training: Transition to virtual during COVID-19 [Poster session]. Texas Substance Use Symposium 2022, Corpus Christy, Texas.
      • Cavazos, D. M. (2022, April 5-7). Promoting student nurses’ medical Spanish proficiency [Poster session]. 7th Annual Cultural Inclusion Conference, San Antonio, Texas.
      • Cavazos, D. M., Cleveland, L. M., Emmerich, A., Mathias, C. W., & Wang, Z. (2022, April 5-7). Overdose prevention and education training: Transition to virtual during COVID-19 [Poster session]. 7th Annual Cultural Inclusion Conference, San Antonio, Texas.
      • Cavazos, D. M., Cleveland, L. M., Emmerich, A., Mathias, C. W., & Wang, Z. (2022, July 12-15). Narcan training during COVID-19 pandemic [Poster session]. National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) 47th Annual Conference, Miami, Florida.
      • Cavazos, D. M., (2022, October 13-16). Street nursing: Teaching and improving community health [Abstract submitted for poster session].13th National Harm Reduction Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Annual.
      • Cavazos, D. M., Cleveland, L. M., Emmerich, A., Mathias, C. W., & Wang, Z. (2022, October 13-16). Overdose prevention and education training: Transition to virtual during COVID-19 pandemic [Abstract submitted for poster session]. 13th National Harm Reduction Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
      • Cavazos, D. M. (2021, November 16-19). Street nursing: Teaching and improving community health [Poster session]. National Association of Hispanic Nurses 46th Annual Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
      • Cavazos, D. M. (2020, July 14-17). Exploring nursing student’s medical Spanish proficiency [Poster session cancelled]. National Association of Hispanic Nurses 45th Annual Conference, Miami, Florida.
      • Naqvi, S., Taylor, B. S., Cantu, Y., Onguti, S., Cavazos, D. M., Perez, A., Morrow, G., Camden, T., Santos, N., Armitige, L., & Ringsdorf, L. (2019, April 23-26). Systematic qualitative evaluation of the Breathe Easy South Texas Program: A community-centered approach to latent tuberculosis screening and treatment [Poster session]. 2019 National Tuberculosis Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.