Dr. Elmer E. Huerta is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Latin American Cancer Research Coalition (LACRC) and a member of the LACRC Steering Committee. He is currently the Founder and Director of the Cancer Preventorium at the Washington Cancer Institute in the Washington Hospital Center, the only cancer prevention/screening service for Latinos in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. The goal of the clinic is to encourage preventive screenings; therefore, the clinic is open to patients who do not have any disease symptoms.
Born in Peru, Dr. Huerta obtained his medical degree at the University of San Marcos in 1981. Trained in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology in Peru, he completed a fellowship in oncology research at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center in 1988, a residence in internal medicine at St. Agnes Hospital in 1991, an M.P.H. at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1992, and a fellowship in Cancer Prevention and Control at the National Cancer Institute in 1994.
Through his educational work, Dr. Huerta has gained a high degree of respect and trust in the Hispanic community at the local, national, and international levels. Since 1989, Dr. Huerta’s daily radio show Cuidando su Salud (Taking Care of Your Health) has provided daily disease prevention and health promotion messages to Hispanics on a Washington, DC-area Spanish-language station. Dr. Huerta also hosts El Consultorio Comunitario (The Community Clinic of the Air), a daily talk radio program, and cohosts Hablemos de Salud (Let’s Talk About Health), a weekly television program. In the Washington area, the programs can be found on Radio America 1540 AM and Telemundo, respectively. His shows, which are syndicated nationally, reach 90 percent of the Spanish-speaking population in the United States and are distributed throughout Latin America.
