The NHSN Model Posted on January 20, 2009 The National Hispanic Science Network uses science to highlight issues in Hispanic communities, states Dr. Yonette Thomas.

Working with groups like the National Hispanic Science Network, applying what we understand and know in epidemiology and particularly from a context perspective as in social epidemiology, has so much applicability to the work of the NHSN. So I got involved with the NHSN maybe about three years ago, and I find that it's a wonderful group of people who want to use their particular experience as Hispanic, Latin Americans, or whatever to help to understand the problems of a particular group of people, but using science, not politics, not advocacy, but scientific method and thinking to help to highlight the problem in the various Latin American, Hispanic communities.

And I really like their focus on, the emphasis on training, developing scientists from early investigators all the way up to the senior scientists and not forgetting the ones in the middle. So I really enjoy working with them, and I think they are a model actually for all of NIH in terms of how we work with different scientific groups to develop areas of expertise.