UTRGV medical student conducting study on diabetes in underserved communities in the Valley
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Walking down the street he grew up on makes Hector Trejo realize how far he's come.
Raised by a single mom and two older brothers in the Hidalgo County community of San Carlos, Trejo said he’s seen how diabetes has impacted his community.
“Most people say that they feel fine, but underneath — it tells another story,” Trejo said. “You might not feel the effects until it’s at a very late stage.”
Next month, Trejo will become a doctor and complete his residency at DHR Health.
Trejo has spent two years studying how diabetes can be treated not just with medication, but from other angles.
“We need to look at this so that way we can come-up with better approaches,” Trejo said.
With the resources of UTRGV, Trejo brought in dieticians, exercise science and behavioral health students.
“If you're depressed, or you have some sort of mental health issue, you're really not going to have as much energy, so to speak — or time to be worrying about other health issues that you might have,” Trejo said.
Trejo said the results of the two-year study are not ready, but his goal is to educate and make free and low-cost public health services available.
He said there is a need for those services across the Rio Grande Valley, where on average one in three people has diabetes.
“I just knew that the research needed to be done,” Trejo said.
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