ALICE  —  The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has named Elaine Montemayor-Gonzalez the health specialist for the agency’s new Healthy South Texas Initiative, administrators say.

Montemayor-Gonzalez is no stranger to AgriLife Extension; for the past two years she has served as family and consumer sciences agent for Jim Wells County and neighboring Duval and Kleberg counties, according to Susan Ballabina, AgriLife Extension associate director of program development at College Station.

Elaine Montemayor-Gonzales is the new AgriLife Extension health specialist in Alice. She is shown here at the kick-off ceremony of Healthy South Texas. From left are Texas state Sens. Eddie Lucio and Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, Montemayor-Gonzalez and Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp. (AgriLife Extension photo by Alex Blinder)
Elaine Montemayor-Gonzales is the new AgriLife Extension health specialist in Alice. She is shown here at the kick-off ceremony of Healthy South Texas in September. From left are Texas state Sens. Eddie Lucio and Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, Montemayor-Gonzalez and Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp. (AgriLife Extension photo by Alex Blinder)

“Elaine is very popular among the people of the counties she serves, and we just wanted them to know that Elaine will still be there for them in Alice, only in a new role with a new initiative,” Ballabina said.

Healthy South Texas is a pilot program of the Healthy Texas Initiative that will combine the expertise of the Texas A&M Health Science Center with outreach efforts of AgriLife Extension to promote preventative health awareness at the local community level, Ballabina said.

“I am excited about my new role with a new initiative, Healthy South Texas,” Montemayor-Gonzalez said. “I look forward to providing and supporting more health and wellness programs for my local community and surrounding areas. I feel blessed to have such a wonderful opportunity.”

Among her many duties as an AgriLife Extension agent for family and consumer sciences, Montemayor-Gonzalez conducted Do Well, Be Well diabetes classes, and the Better Living for Texans health and nutrition program. She also developed the Jim Wells County Farmers Market.

Prior to her work with AgriLife Extension, she worked in Corpus Christi as a clinical dietician at Driscoll Children’s Hospital’s endocrinology department. In that role, she provided nutrition education for patients struggling with diabetes, borderline diabetes, obesity and other related diagnoses. She also provided classes for patients and families in the Weigh To Go program and supported the Be Safe From Diabetes campaign with local television stations.

Montemayor-Gonzalez earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in human sciences from Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

She can be contacted at the AgriLife Extension office for Jim Wells County at 361-668-5705 or [email protected] .

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