Three Honorees for Latine Excellence and Achievement

At the Eighth Annual Latine Excellence and Achievement Awards Dinner (LEAD) on April 3, 2025, UC Irvine celebrated key leaders, graduate students, staff and faculty who support and champion student success and research excellence in the Hispanic/Latine community. The School of Medicine is pleased to recognize three LEAD honorees this year:

• Luz & Fuerza Award (In Memoriam): Dr. Alberto Manetta,
• Graduate Student Excellence: Jasmine Chavez, and
• Alumna Honoree: Jenny Ventura.

Through their work, research and passion for supporting socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, these three individuals have positively impacted societal well-being.

Alberto Manetta: Founder of PRIME-LC

A special posthumous award was presented to Alberto Manetta, MD. “Everyone agreed that this was a much-deserved recognition and perfectly aligns with the mission of LEAD,” says Maria Cervantes, LEAD committee member.

Manetta overcame childhood poverty to become a world-class cancer surgeon; a groundbreaking researcher in the treatment of cervical, endometrial and ovarian cancer; and an associate dean of UC Irvine’s School of Medicine. He established “screen & treat” cervical cancer programs in underserved communities in Southern California and Mexico, serving as a champion of the socioeconomically disadvantaged. In 2004, he launched the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC), the nation’s first medical education program focused on Latino culture.

“As Latinos become the largest population group in California and the largest minority group in the nation,” he once said, “meeting their medical needs takes on even greater importance in terms of overall public health.”

PRIME-LC has expanded to every medical school in California, and its success led to the development of similar programs focused on the African, Black and Caribbean communities and indigenous populations. Despite his untimely passing in 2022, Manetta’s legacy continues to positively impact the health and well-being of many at UC Irvine, in Orange County and across California.

Jasmine Chavez: Expanding Opportunities in STEM

Jasmine Chavez, a fourth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience and first-generation daughter of Mexican immigrant parents, received the Graduate Student Excellence in Research and Health for the Latino Community Award. Her dissertation explores how early-life oxytocin treatment can restore social, cognitive and behavioral deficits evident in the mouse model of Fragile X syndrome.

Chavez also works to ensure underrepresented groups have opportunities in STEM. As a representative for Diverse Educational Community and Doctoral Experience (DECADE), she has organized professional development and community-building events, and as a member of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM), she has promoted outreach programs.

“Receiving the Latine Excellence and Achievement Award is an incredible honor that reflects not only my dedication to research, but also my deep commitment to uplifting and representing the Latino community in higher education and STEM,” says Chavez. “It is especially meaningful to be recognized by and among those who share in this mission, motivating me to keep pushing forward for future generations of Latinx scholars.”

Jenny Ventura: Providing Culturally Sensitive Care

Jenny Ventura, who is about to begin her residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in plastic and reconstructive surgery, was honored to receive the LEAD Honorable Alumna award.

She has co-led a project on health literacy and cultural sensitivity in Spanish online resources, and she helped craft a socio-ecological model for achieving language equity related to surgery care.

She is “filled with gratitude for the students, mentors, friends and family” who have supported her journey in the UC Irvine School of Medicine. “Through my involvement in the PRIME-LC, I have learned to view medicine through a critical lens, identifying the vital connections among the Latino community, health disparities and my chosen field,” says Ventura, a first-generation student as the daughter of Salvadoran immigrant parents. “This invaluable training will guide me as I strive to provide culturally sensitive care and contribute to research that addresses the needs of marginalized communities and important clinical challenges.”