Northeastern Spotlight

Winter 2022 Volume 17 – Number 1

TB Limelight – Elvy Barroso, PhD, MD, MSc, MS, MPH, RN

Dr. Elvy Barroso has had a dynamic journey in the fields of tuberculosis (TB) and health education. Growing up in the Philippines, Elvy always knew that she wanted to join the medical profession and she eventually completed her medical degree at De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines. After graduation, she began working as an industrial hygienist at the Philippines Department of Health where she focused on occupational health and safety and she was quickly promoted to Medical Specialist in the Philippines National TB Program. Though Elvy enjoyed working in the Philippines, she decided to follow in her sister’s footsteps and move to New York City. Shortly after arriving in New York in 1992, Elvy’s interest in TB led her to work as a TB Program Coordinator at the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Elvy says, “At the time, TB was always in the news. After reading an article in the newspaper, I had the idea of sending my resume to Dr. Tom Frieden who was the then Director of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Bureau of TB Control (BTBC), and I was then hired to work as a TB Educator at the Bureau.”
Elvy faced some initial hardships while working as an educator in NYC and it took her a few months to adjust to her new work environment and learning how to navigate through several unfamiliar boroughs of the city. She states, “My role at the BTBC was very similar to my work in the Philippines, as I also had to travel to the rural communities but it was in the Philippines which made it easier. It took me some time to get used to due to the exposure to different cultures.” Elvy has enjoyed meeting people from varied backgrounds and feels that her experiences at BTBC contributed to her current views on TB and fueled her passion for education.

In order to expand on her clinical knowledge, Elvy decided to pursue a degree in nursing. Elvy completed three combined degrees – Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Nursing, and Master of Public Health. She later went on to complete her PhD in Nursing at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. Elvy credits this as the most significant part of her career and her dissertation was published in the Journal of Public Health Nursing. Her research focused on the factors associated with TB testing and evaluation of household contacts, based on secondary data from the BTBC TB registry.

In addition to her work at BTBC, Elvy is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Hunter Bellevue School of Nursing where she teaches Nursing Research and Leadership and Ethics. She also teaches Community Health Nursing and Fundamentals in Nursing at New York University and at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), CUNY respectively. Along with her various teaching positions, Elvy enjoys her role as a clinical instructor at Bellevue Hospital where she gets to meet and supervise students during their clinical rotations. “Supervising students at the hospital gives me a sense of fulfillment which I dearly missed when I was working as a medical doctor in the hospital,” she tells us.

Elvy has been part of several outreach activities and projects at BTBC and she is especially proud of her association with The Philippines Nurses Association of New York since 2016. The purpose of this partnership is to reduce the burden of TB amongst Filipinos in NYC by providing TB education and screening services. In her words, “Because of these efforts, the Philippines was relegated from rank 4 to 7 among 10 countries with high rates of TB. With our continuous partnership, we hope that by 2025 Philippines will no longer be on the list of countries with high rates of TB in NYC.”

Elvy is currently working on a project awarded by the Philippines Nurses Association of New York to increase the rates of diagnosis and treatment of latent TB infection (LTBI) among the Filipino community. If successful, Elvy would like to use the same model in other communities to reduce the burden.

Her colleague Teresa Mark, Health Educator at BTBC, shared her experience working with Elvy “It has been a pleasure and privilege to work with Dr. Barroso for the past 4 years. She has been a mentor to me, and she has shown me how to conduct educational outreach, coordinate TB testing, and engage community partners. I am continually inspired by her technical expertise, clinical knowledge, practical experience, and 29-year tenure at the NYC Department of Health. Dr. Barroso is truly one of a kind and an asset to our TB prevention and elimination efforts."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Elvy has been involved in various community outreach activities. Elvy was appointed Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee at Community Board 6. She organized a virtual town hall meeting about COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in January 2021. She has also been working as a vaccinator since March 2021 at the Department of Health COVID-19 sites during weekends. She discussed the hectic schedules and fatigue experienced by health care workers -“Most of the nurses who worked as vaccinators had left their jobs. The team at the sites would vaccinate at least 1,000 people a day!”

Given her diverse background and experiences, Elvy shares an important lesson, “I learned not to quit. Although I could not become a licensed medical doctor in the US, it did not stop me from pursuing another path of knowledge, which is nursing. The nursing profession gives me flexibility, fulfillment, and happiness.”

During her spare time, Elvy likes to practice karate. Elvy has been learning Japanese-style karate for the past twenty years and holds a fourth-degree black belt. She also enjoys cooking and gets her inspiration from watching the Food Network.

As she approaches retirement, Elvy has one final project, which is to publish a manuscript about LTBI community outreach initiatives among the Filipino community. She hopes to continue teaching nursing full time and travel to visit some of her classmates who are now all over the world! Elvy’s relentless passion for teaching and community outreach is an inspiration for many of us involved in TB prevention and elimination efforts. She hopes that she can return to the Philippines to help with TB advocacy efforts. We wish Elvy all the best and look forward to seeing some of her advocacy efforts on a global level!

Submitted by Shwata Suresh Kumar, MPH - Health Educator II