MCN is pleased to announce our upcoming community of practice series, Diabetes ECHO 2026 for community health workers/promotores de salud, case managers, health educators, outreach workers, and patient navigators who work with health centers. This six-part, Spanish-language series will address topics relating to diabetes, including general knowledge, nutrition, mental health, complications, and more.
Interested individuals must apply to participate in the series by January 16. Approximately 30 participants will be selected to form the Diabetes ECHO 2026 cohort.
The series will take place over six consecutive Thursdays on the following dates:
- Session 1: January 29, 2026
- Session 2: February 5, 2026
- Session 3: February 12, 2026
- Session 4: February 19, 2026
- Session 5: February 26, 2026
- Session 6: March 5, 2026
Each session will be 90 minutes in length and will be held at the following times:
- Pacific Time: 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
- Mountain Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
- Central Time: 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Eastern Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
- Atlantic Time: 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
At the conclusion of this series, participants will be able to:
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Provide meaningful knowledge about T2D and the various aspects that make management difficult
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Present successful and effective practices in the self-management of T2D
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Improve patient management skills in our communities
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Create a network between MCN, community health workers/promotores de salud and clinical experts
Presenters
Alma
Galván
MHC
Director of Training and Community Engagement
Migrant Clinicians Network
Alma Galván, MHC, is MCN's Director of Training and Community Engagement. Galván has worked for over three decades to improve the health of agricultural workers. She has extensive experience providing technical assistance and developing curricula and educational materials for adults with limited English proficiency and limited literacy, community health workers, health professionals, health educators, and clinicians. Galván has worked extensively with MCN partners, community-based organizations, health agencies, and local and state health departments.
MPA
Research Manager
Migrant Clinicians Network
Nilsa Padilla Elías, MPA, is MCN's Research Manager and works from the Puerto Rico office. She has dedicated her career to work in different public health scenarios, among which stand out the emergency preparedness and response. Padilla Elías has vast experience in the development and implementation of research projects, focusing on the emergency preparedness and capability of the Puerto Rico health system, including the Altered Crisis Standards of Care. She also has devoted her research efforts to addressing the needs of the unhoused population and people with substance abuse disorders and implementing mental health awareness programs for the community. In addition to research initiatives, Padilla Elías has coordinated services, collected data, and provided psychoeducation for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (including related dementias), and their caregivers. Padilla Elías has a Master’s degree in Public Affairs majoring in Human Services from the University of Turabo, Gurabo, Puerto Rico. She has recently been certified as a Thanatologist and continues to study diverse modalities of the Enneagram. Padilla Elías is a lover of nature, travel, and music and passionate about singing and dancing "bomba puertorriqueña". In sports she is a basketball fan and proud mother of an outstanding basketball coach and a skilled front-of-the-house manager in the fine dining hospitality industry.
Lois Wessel, FNP, DNP is an associate professor at the School of Nursing and the School of Medicine at Georgetown University. She is bilingual and is involved with numerous community and environmental health programs including the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment, Migrant Clinicians Network, the Environmental Health Research Institute for Nurses and the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. Dr. Wessel received the GU Center for Social Justice Slevin Award in 2024. She was awarded the Jesuit Network of Nursing Programs Exemplary Faculty Award in 2025. Dr. Wessel's areas of interest include community health workers, Project ECHO, food justice, public health, and making the world a better place for everyone.
Dr. Eva Gálvez is a board-certified family physician at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center in Oregon, where she manages a busy panel of patients. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2004 and has been working in federally qualified health centers since her residency training. As the daughter of agricultural workers, she has a special interest in the health issues they face and is committed to providing high quality, compassionate care to the people of her state. Dr. Gálvez has served as a family medicine clinical instructor for University of Washington School of Medicine and currently serves as a clinical preceptor for family medicine residents from the Wright Center and is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Alyssa Puia is a 2019 graduate of the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy. Upon graduation, she accepted a post graduate year-1 (PGY-1) community residency position at the Holyoke Health Center (HHC) in Holyoke, Massachusetts. As a clinical pharmacist at HHC, Alyssa provides medication therapy management (MTM) and other clinical pharmacy services to the HHC patient population as one of two bilingual pharmacists on staff. She is also involved in the precepting of pharmacy students and HHC’s three PGY-1 residents. Alyssa is also interested in vaccine hesitancy and type 2 diabetes management.
Dr. María José Hummel is a nutritionist, health educator, author, international speaker, and former engineer. Dr. Hummel holds multiple degrees, including a Master’s of Science in Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, a Master’s in Public Health from San Jose State University, and a certification in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell University.
As a health educator and plant-based nutritionist, certified by the American Association of Lifestyle Medicine as a lifestyle medicine professional as well as Type 2 diabetes remission, Dr. Hummel enjoys sharing not only her knowledge, but her passion, for nutrition, health, and plant-based cooking.
Melawhy Garcia is an associate professor in the Department of Health Science at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), Director of the Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation, and Leadership Training, and a newly appointed Endowed Chair of Health Literacy and Health Communication in the College of Health and Human Services.
Dr. García has experience with multidisciplinary epidemiological and applied research through her work at the Center for Latino Community Health as well as SDSU’s Institute for Behavioral and Community Health and the South Bay Latino Research Center. Her research program utilizes different methodologies to explore the complex influences affecting health outcomes in populations facing non-health-related challenges, with a particular focus on conditions related to heart and metabolic health, including diabetes.
