Maria Gomez-Murphy, MA, MAIA, MPA

OWH Home > Working Groups and Committees > Minority Women's Health Panel of Experts > Maria Gomez-Murphy, MA, MAIA, MPA

President & CEO
The Way of the Heart: The Promotora Institute
1012 N Grand Ave., Suite 15
Nogales, Arizona 85621
Phone: (520) 287-2240
Fax: (520) 287-2246
mariagomezmurphy@gmail.com

Maria Gomez-Murphy is President and CEO of The Way of the Heart: The Promotora Institute in Nogales, Arizona. The Way of the Heart: The Promotora Institute provides no cost services to a largely rural community on the U.S. /Mexico border. Utilizing the community health worker (promotora) model, The Way of the Heart: The Promotora Institute offers outreach, education, training, referral and advocacy to low-income women and their families on such diverse topics as prenatal and postpartum care, teen pregnancy prevention, HIV/STDs, environmental health, tobacco use prevention and cessation, cancer and diabetes. The Promotora Institute also convenes and facilitates monthly support groups for cancer survivors, diabetics, and people with arthritis, heart disease, and women who have been sexually abused.

In addition to OWH Home visits and group presentations, The Way of the Heart: The Promotora Institute includes health promotion strategies that impact knowledge, attitudes, and practices on a community level in such venues as health fairs, church and neighborhood meetings, factories, laundromats, and grocery stores. Because border communities share health concerns, Maria produces and hosts a weekly call-in radio program on health and well-being that reaches from Phoenix, Arizona to 20 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border.

Maria Gomez-Murphy has been selected as one of the twenty-two Latinas for the 2005 National Hispana Leadership Institute. Her selection to the class of 2005 is an honor and privilege. This invitation is a call to leadership, action and service. It is an opportunity to be part of a national network of Hispanic women who are dedicated to personal integrity, ethical leadership and the highest standards of public service. She has been selected because of her extensive community service record, the commitment she has demonstrated to the Hispanic community and the tremendous potential she has to lead the Hispanic community forward.

The four-week program will be intense and full of new experiences and learnings. Each week of the program is intended to provide a different experience. This program is an opportunity for growth, change and moving beyond self-limiting beliefs, which at times will be exhilarating and at other times can be quite challenging! Congratulations to Maria Gomez-Murphy!

Content last updated September 19, 2008.