CHS Professor Receives Mike Dipp Humanitarian Award
Published September 25, 2026
By Darlene Muguiro
UTEP College of Health Sciences
Dr. Thenral Mangadu, Peter de Wetter Endowed Professor of Public Health Sciences and UTEP associate vice president for interdisciplinary research, has been awarded the Mike Dipp Humanitarian Award from Aliviane, a nonprofit organization providing prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery services in West Texas. The annual award honors individuals whose work focuses on compassion and commitment to service of others, with a focus on strengthening vulnerable populations.
“Dr. Mangadu’s work is worth celebrating, and it demonstrates the values embodied by this award: compassion, humility, and commitment to others in the community,” said C. Scott Kruse, Ph.D., dean of the College of Health Sciences.
Mangadu’s storied career at UTEP has focused on health disparities, global and rural health, maternal and child health, and substance use disorders (SUD). In 2019, Mangadu launched the UTEP Minority Aids Research Center (MARC). Since then, she and her team have worked to advance research and treatment for minority populations relative to HIV/AIDS, with complementary work in SUD and behavioral health. In 2022, MARC was awarded a five-year $1.9 million grant to launch the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training program targeting five rural and health professional shortage communities in West Texas. The program is increasing access to prevention, treatment and recovery for SUD, mental health and co-morbidities related to SUD and serious mental illness. Populations who have benefited from these interventions include families, pediatric patients, pregnant and post-partum women. Aliviane is a key partner of MARC; together, the two organizations have worked to implement an opioid response program in the five targeted counties.
“The Mike Dipp Humanitarian Award is truly an honor because of the values it reflects for bringing meaningful change to underserved communities and individuals. This award is also a recognition of our purposeful teamwork in delivering impactful whole-person approaches to public health interventions for those populations with the most need for healthcare access in our region. I am grateful as always for my team members and community partners who demonstrate on a daily basis their unwavering commitment to improving lives in the communities we serve,” Mangadu said.
The Mike Dipp Humanitarian Award is named for Michael Dipp, an El Paso business man whose family owned several downtown properties including the Plaza Hotel and Plaza Theater and established the local grocer and produce company Economy Cash and Carry. Dipp was the former manager of the Plaza Hotel and former president of El Paso’s Downtown Association.
