El Pasoan joins TTUHSC to address gut health issues in the Borderland
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – El Paso native returned home to join the efforts in addressing disproportionally high numbers of colon cancer and other intestinal diseases plaguing the border community.
Dr. Alejandro Robles recently joined the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) as a practicing gastroenterologist and an assistant professor within the field. His practice will focus on gastrointestinal cancers’ epidemiology as the community struggles with overall gut health concerns.
“Within the border communities we have a higher percentage of Hispanic populations. We tend to have these distinct risk factors, and some of these risk factors can be diabetes or obesity, which itself can put you at risk for heart disease or other complications from diabetes, but at the same time can put you at risk for developing gastrointestinal type of cancers as well as diseases,” said Robles.
Robles explained that colon cancer is already the second most-common cause of cancer death among females and males combined in the United States, but it is even more prevalent in Hispanic communities like El Paso. The incidence rate of colon cancer in El Paso County is 45.8 cases per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 39.4 cases per 100,000 people.
“We all love our Mexican food, we’re not going to lie, but it tends to be high in calories, tends to be high in fat as well as sodium. All these factors can put you at risk for developing obesity, diabetes, which itself can put you at risk for developing other complications within the gastrointestinal tract,” said Robles.
According to the TTUHSC, border communities have been historically underserved in health science resulting in health disparities. Only 4% of participants in clinical studies in the region are Hispanic despite making up the majority of the population. Robles explained the importance of returning to his hometown.
“We’re able to keep El Pasoans who are interested in the medical field within El Paso to train them in a top-notch institution. And once they’re done, to keep them here to be able to provide the help that the population needs here,” said Robles.
Besides treating patients, Robles will also participate in research aimed at understanding the risk factors causing the high number of intestinal diseases in the community.
“We’re all involved in research projects in which we hope to eventually find causes of what can be resulting in the higher incidence rates of colon cancer. And hopefully by finding an underlying cause, we can eventually start preventing. We can always continue the preventive services, but it’s always best to just figure out what is happening to be able to eliminate it hopefully in the near future,” said Robles.
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