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o Spouse(s):
§ David Neumark Brainin m. 1949- d. 1954
· Myheritage.com
§ Eliezer Curet m. 1954- d. ?
· Myheritage.com
§ Edward Gonzales Jr. m. ? – 2001
· Google.com (search current husband)
o Children:
§ Jo Ellen Brainin-Rodriguez
§ David Brainin-Rodriguez
§ Laura Brainin-Rodriguez
§ Daniel Curet-Rodriguez
· Google.com (search for children)
o Parents
§ Josefa Rodriguez- Trias
§ Damian Rodriguez
· Myheritage.com
o Sibling(s)
§ Gladys Adela Hilera Rozas
· Myheritage.com
o Cause of death
§ Lung Cancer
· Pubmed.gov
- Early Years
o Rodríguez Trías's parents had been living in New York during part of the early 20th century. After Rodríguez Trías's birth in 1929, her family moved back to Puerto Rico. Her family returned to New York once again when she was ten years old[NA1] , where she experienced racism and discrimination. Even though she had received good grades in school and knew how to speak English, she was placed in a class with students with learning disabilities. It wasn’t until she participated in a poem recital, her teacher realized that she was a gifted child and sent her to a class for gifted children.[NA2] She later choose the medical career because it "combined the things I loved the most, science and people".
- Education
o Due to Rodriguez-Trias’ family financial struggles, she had decided to attend university back in Puerto Rico[NA3] . She received her medical degrees from University of Puerto Rico in San Juan[NA4] in 1948.
o She earned her BA degree in 1957 and entered UPR's school of medicine.
o She earned her medical degree in 1960, at the age of 31, and soon after gave birth to her fourth child
- PR Activist
o Second paragraph
§ In 1948, she began her academic education at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. Rodriguez-Trias found herself in a university with very strong independence movement. and She became involved with the student faction of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. When Nationalist leader Don Pedro Albizu Campos had been invited to speak by the student council; however, the chancellor of the university, Jaime Rexach Benítez, did not permit Albizu access to the campus. The students consequently went on strike, with Rodríguez Trías amongst them, but her brother did not approve of this. She returned to New York after he threatened to cut off her college expenses and she returned to New York.
o Third paragraph
§ In New York, In 1949, she got married and had three children with David Neumark Brainin. She then decided to return to Puerto Rico to pursue her degree. Returning to the University of Puerto Rico, she reinserted herself as a student activist on issues such as freedom of speech and Puerto Rican independence. She earned her BA degree in 1957 and entered UPR's school of medicine. She earned her medical degree in 1960, at the age of 31, and soon after gave birth to her fourth child. During her residency at the University Hospital in San Juan, she established the first center for the care of newborn babies in Puerto Rico. The hospital's death rate for newborns decreased 50 percent within three years. She established her medical practice in the field of pediatrics in the island after completing her residency. During this timeframe she divorced her husband and in 1970 returned to New York. She said that her marriage and divorce helped her grow.
§
- Women’s Right Activist
Rodriguez Trias interests in women rights began shortly after attending an abortion conference at Bernard College. She began to advocate for free abortions more widely available birth control for poorer women. [NA5]
After attending an abortion conference at Bernard College, During her years in Puerto Rico, Rodríguez Trías became aware of U.S. sterilization campaigns located there[NA6] that unsuspecting Puerto Rican women were being sterilized and that the United States was using Puerto Rico as a laboratory for the development of birth control technology. In 1970, she was a founding member of Committee to End Sterilization Abuse and in 1971 a founding member of the Women's Caucus of the American Public Health Association. She supported abortion rights, fought for the abolishment of enforced sterilization, and sought neonatal care for underserved people. In 1979, she became a founding member of the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse and testified before the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for passage of federal sterilization guidelines. She describes events at a 1974 Boston conference:
We had a panel on sterilization abuse, which had to do with disrespect for women's needs, wishes, and hopes. We brought up the Relf suit, brought on behalf of 2 Black, allegedly retarded girls, Minnie Lee Relf, age 12, and Mary Alice Relf, age 14, who had been sterilized without their knowledge or consent in a federally funded program in Montgomery, Alabama.
The guidelines, which she drafted, required a woman's written consent to sterilization in a language they could understand and set a waiting period between the consent and the sterilization procedure. She is credited with helping to expand the range of public health services for women and children in minority and low-income populations in the United States, Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
In the 1980s, Rodríguez Trías served as medical director of the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. She worked on behalf of women from minority groups who were infected with HIV. In the 1990s, she served as health co-director of the Pacific Institute for Women's Health, a nonprofit research and advocacy group dedicated to improving women's well-being worldwide and focused on reproduction. She was a founding member of both the Women's Caucus and the Hispanic Caucus of the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the first Latina to serve as the president of the APHA.
- Medical Career
o First paragraph
§ During her residency at the University Hospital in San Juan, she established the first center for the care of newborn babies in Puerto Rico. The hospital's death rate for newborns decreased 50 percent within three years. She established her medical practice in the field of pediatrics in the island after completing her residency. During this timeframe she divorced her second husband, Eliezer Curet, and in 1970 returned to New York. She said that her marriage and divorce helped her grow.[NA7] [NA8]
o Second Paragraph (was originally first, moved down)
§ Rodríguez Trías headed the department of pediatrics at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. At Lincoln Hospital, Rodríguez Trías lobbied to give all workers a voice in administrative and patient-care issues. She became involved with the Puerto Rican community and encouraged the health care workers at the hospital to become aware of the cultural issues and needs of the community. Rodríguez Trías was also an associate professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, and later taught at Columbia and Fordham universities.
- Later years
Rodríguez Trías once stated that her biggest inspiration came from "the experience of [her] own mother, aunts and sisters, who faced so many restraints in their struggle to flourish and realize their full potential". In addition to her mother, was Dr. Jose Sifontes, a professor at her medical school, who was a pioneer in pediatric tuberculosis. According to Rodríguez Trías, Dr. Jose Sifontes had great awareness that the events occurring in a community do affect the health of that community. These were some of the notable mentors who inspired Rodríguez Trías as she grew to become a huge contributor to the field of science.
Rodriguez Trias died on December 27, 2001 due to lung cancer.[NA9]
On January 8, 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Rodríguez Trías with the Presidential Citizen's Medal, the second-highest civilian award in the United States, for her work on behalf of women, children, people with HIV and AIDS, and poor people. Later that year, on December 27, Rodríguez Trías died of cancer.
On July 7, 2018, which would have been Rodríguez Trías' 89th birthday, Google featured her in a Google Doodle in the United States.
In 2019, Chirlane McCray announced that New York City would build a statue honoring Rodríguez Trías in St. Mary's Park, near Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx.
Overall, Rodríguez Trías leaves behind a legacy that can be explained with her own words:
We need health, but above all we need to create a grounding for healthy public policy that redresses and salvages the growing inequities. We cannot achieve a healthier us without achieving a healthier, more equitable health care system, and ultimately, a more equitable society.
[NA1]Wilcox source
[NA2]Didn't add new information, just changed sentence order.
[NA3]Wilcox Source
[NA4]Source:
https://instituteforpr.org/pioneer-helen-rodriguez-trias-1929-2001/#:~:text=Helen%20Rodr%C3%ADguez%20Tr%C3%ADas%20was%20a,Rico's%20first%20infant%20health%20clinic
[NA5]Source: book page 96
[NA6]Source: book page 96
[NA7]Paragraph moved from activist section. Makes more sense under medical career.
[NA8]Husbands name from heritage.com
· [NA9]Source: Pubmed.gov