​Health Network: A Way to Keep Your Patients in Care​

As the Chief Medical Officer for Migrant Clinicians Network, Laszlo Madaras, MD, MPH is responsible for the oversight of MCN clinical activities. He also serves as a subject matter expert for various health topics including emerging issues, farmworker health, and Tuberculosis. Over the last 30 years, in parts of Africa, Central America, South America, the Pacific Islands, and the United States, Dr. Madaras has served thousands for wide-ranging ailments, including newly emerging diseases. 

Dr. Madaras arrived to in the United States as a Hungarian refugee in 1968 at the age of seven and eventually became a US citizen. Dr. Madaras received his MD and MPH from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1993. Early experiences include working as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow in pediatrics in Gabon, West Africa; as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Congo; and as a pesticide review manager at the US Environmental Protection Agency. He worked on the Congo/Rwandan border during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and on the Hungarian border with the former Yugoslavia in 1995. 

Since 1996, Dr. Madaras has been a board-certified family physician in both inpatient and outpatient medicine in Pediatrics, Adult Medicine, and Obstetrics. He served as a frontline clinician at the Keystone Health Center where he cared for farmworkers and their families and became Assistant Medical Director from 2001 to 2005. In 2005, he became a hospitalist in Chambersburg and Waynesboro Hospitals in south central Pennsylvania, where he continues to work part time. In 2016, he became a Senior Fellow of Hospital Medicine. In 2020, he became a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

In addition, Dr. Madaras has worked as a staff physician in Tuberculosis control at the Pennsylvania State Health Department since 2012, and regularly teaches US-based medical students on an international health rotation in Honduras. Dr. Madaras also teaches hospital medicine to Penn State nurse practitioner and physician assistant students and medical residents at Summit Health. 

Alma Colmenero (she/her/ella) is the Prenatal Coordinator for Health Network, providing bilingual and culturally competent case management to hundreds of pregnant migrants to ensure they receive the prenatal, birth, and postpartum care they need. Colmenero began her Migrant Clinicians career in 2018, as a Health Network Associate, managing a wide range of cases until she advanced to Prenatal Coordinator in 2021 in recognition of her management successes and dedication. Colmenero holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration – Marketing from the University of Texas, Austin. She was born in San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato but has lived most of her life in Dallas, Texas before moving to Austin to pursue her undergraduate degree; she and her siblings are the first generation in their family to receive a college education. When she’s not working, Colmenero likes to watch movies and go to the pool. She has two young daughters and two dogs, a chihuahua named Tequila & a Cane Corso named Chevy, who love to be outdoors when it’s not too hot.

Brenda Ramirez, MCN’s Field Health Network Associate in McAllen, Texas, is an experienced case manager. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, she joined MCN's Health Network team. Working directly with certified nurse midwives at migrant shelters in Texas, she specializes in prenatal and postpartum case management, helping pregnant migrants enroll in MCN’s Health Network program. 

Bilingual in Spanish and English, Ramirez works directly with Health Network patients at immigration shelters, providing culturally contextual support and enrolling the patients in Health Network. After the patients leave the shelter, she provides bilingual and culturally contextual case management as they travel to their destination states, assisting in making appointments and navigating the complex health care system that can be a barrier to care for migrant patients. By getting to know many of our patients more directly, she helps the rest of the Health Network team stay aware of the most pressing concerns and issues migrants face when entering the country, helping the team keep their finger on the pulse of border communities and migrants. 

Ramirez hopes to attend graduate school in the future for counseling. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and family, their four dogs, being outdoors, and listening to a true crime podcast.