2022 STAR Educator Recipient: Elia Escaname, MD
Elia Escaname, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Pediatrics
Nomination Submission:
Dr. Escaname’s strengths are her determination, teamwork, organization and applied technology to better our division faculty teaching and efficiency. As a native of South Texas, she has a deep understanding of our UT Health role in providing care that fits our Hispanic community’s needs. She inspires our trainees with teaching in the clinical setting and severs as a role model to show compassion and approaches that overcome disparities of care.
She has developed a structured approach to teaching clinical cases using evidence based care approaches with interesting endocrine cases within our division for rotating medical students and residents. She motivates learners to explore aspects of endocrine care as she mentors them in the clinical setting. Her skills to navigate community resources has led to her creative clinical research collaboration with Metro Health, the CHEF program and YMCA where she organized a “camp power” to educate youth and families as an obesity and diabetes intervention. Her clinical research on San Antonio geo-mapping of type 1 and type 2 diabetes has led to focused regional areas of intervention and awareness for local health care and public health leaders outside of our department.