Élmer Huerta

Élmer Emilio Huerta Ramírez is a Peruvian medical oncologist and internist and a public health specialist in epidemiology who works in the United States. Born on 12 June 1952, he studied medicine at the Faculty of Medicine San Fernando of the National University of San Marcos in Peru and took a Master in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. He was president of the American Cancer Society from 2007 to 2008 and was the first Latino to hold that office. He founded a cancer prevention program that he runs at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center Cancer Institute in Washington, D.C. He is also regarded as a pioneer in using the media for health education in Latin America and serves as a medical commentator for major Spanish-language outlets in the United States and Peru.