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Nilda Peragallo, Dr.P.H. |
Dr. Peragallo is one of the nation’s foremost researchers in HIV/AIDS risk reduction and prevention in Latinos. She is dean of the school of nursing and health studies at the University of Miami (Fla.) School of Nursing.
During her visit, Dr. Peragallo will consult with and make presentations to medical center faculty, staff and students, as well as to members of the health care community following a reception in her honor.
She will present a lecture, “Thinking Big: Building Your Career Trajectory,” today from 3 to 4 p.m. in the College of Nursing, Room 1010. It also will be broadcast live to the college’s Lincoln Division, Room 205; Kearney Division, Room 144W; and the West Nebraska Division in Scottsbluff, Room 205.
While growing up in Puerto Rico, Dr. Peragallo dreamed of becoming a doctor. At a community meeting, Dr. Peragallo’s mother was proud to tell the only doctor in town that her daughter also wanted to be a doctor. The doctor looked down at the child and said, “That little girl will never be a doctor.”
Those words changed her life.
Ironically, many years later after receiving her degree from the University of Puerto Rico, the same doctor who told her she would not succeed was rushed to a hospital in San Juan after suffering a heart attack. Dr. Peragallo was the doctor on duty that night and saved his life.
Dr. Peragallo also is recognized internationally for her leadership in the areas of health disparities, cultural competency, and the recruitment and retention of minorities in nursing. She is the immediate past president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and co-editor of “Hispanic Healthcare International.”
Dr. Peragallo was recently appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on the national advisory council to the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Dr. Peragallo holds a joint appointment in the department of epidemiology and public health at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.