Elmer E. Huerta, MD, MPH, is clinical professor of medicine at the George Washington School of Medicine and director of the Cancer Preventorium, GW Cancer Center, in Washington, D.C.
He has dedicated more than 30 years to promoting disease prevention and early detection using the media, and his radio and television programs reach Spanish-speaking people in the United States and Latin America.
At his Cancer Preventorium, founded in 1994, he has examined almost 40,000 people, mostly poor and uninsured Latinos, for prevention and early detection consultations.
Huerta is the author of the best sellers Health Information Made Easy, Confronting Cancer, 100 Questions About your Health, and The Good Death. Through his educational work, he has developed a high degree of respect and trust in the Hispanic community at the local, national, and international levels. He is senior medical contributor for CNN en Español.
Huerta was appointed by President Bill Clinton as member of the National Cancer Advisory Board in 1998 and was elected in 2007 as the first-ever Latino National President of the American Cancer Society.
Huerta received the 2004 Innovations in Prevention Award by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and the 2013 White House Public Health and Prevention Champion of Change Award.
Huerta, a soccer fan, enjoys cooking Peruvian food and is also very fond of taking long bike rides, especially around the monuments area in Washington, D.C.