A strong mother figure, political unrest in her native land, language barriers and a childhood sweetheart all figure into the life Velarde has built in her adopted country.

"The love I feel for the United States has been earned," says the Peruvian transplant.

Velarde's professional aspirations, however, are more straightforward. The cardiologist and founder/director of Strong Women's Heart Program has made it her life's work to cut cardiovascular disease among her female brethren.

For that work, for bringing her expertise to inner-city churches, and for other efforts to improve health conditions among local Hispanics and the medically underserved, Ibero-American Action League Inc. and Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency will honor Velarde at a reception Tuesday. That's where she'll also receive a Hispanic Health Leadership Award from the Washington, D.C.-based National Hispanic Medical Association, announced earlier this year.

"What impressed me the most is that she is researcher, a clinician, an educator and, in my concept, a community worker," says Dr. Constantino "Tino" Fernandez, a local ob/gyn who nominated Velarde for the award.

Fernandez has known Velarde since the late '90s. Both teach at the University of Rochester Medical Center, have worked together in community projects, and share an interest in understanding the needs particular to Latina patients.

For instance, they aren't surprised when Latinas show up in their offices with family members. That's part of the culture.

Rosa Mora, a 56-year-old factory worker who lives in Greece, recently arrived with her grown daughter and her grandson to her appointment with Velarde to discuss her irregular heart palpitations.

Conversation between the doctor and patient slipped easily between English and Spanish — with some Spanglish thrown in.

"Es un good finding," Velarde tells Mora about her stress test.

"I go with the flow," Velarde tells me later. "You let them drive you, as long as you get the story and let them tell you how they feel."

Velarde's own narrative is itself an exercise in persistence and determination.

Her mother was the family bread-winner who worked long hours as a restaurant owner while her father, who died when Velarde was 9 years old, stayed home with the children.

The family relocated to this country to escape the political climate that threatened its business.

Velarde paid for college with jobs as a cashier, a chambermaid and fitness instructor. She knew early on that she wanted to be a doctor, following in the footsteps of an older brother.

Another brother's sudden heart-related death helped point her the way of cardiology, says Velarde, who got her medical degree from New York University.

Along the way, she married a Peruvian she'd known since she was 12 and gave birth to three children. The family lives in Brighton with the hard worker who inspired all her children.

"My mother is the one who instilled in us strong a work ethic, and Gladys followed that," says Dr. Carlos Palacio, Velarde's brother who heads the intensive care unit at Park Ridge Hospital.

At the heart of her own work is correcting the perception that heart disease, the leading cause of death among women, is only a man's problem.

"That couldn't be further from the truth," Velarde says.

"It kills all of us."