Melvin Baron began with prenatal nutrition. Then he moved on to diabetes. Now, continuing his innovative efforts to reach out to L.A.’s Latino community about critical public health issues, the USC School of Pharmacy scholar has created a fotonovela about depression.

Baron and his team’s third fotonovela, written in both Spanish and English, will be distributed in the neighborhoods surrounding the Health Sciences and University Park campuses in early 2008. Their two previous publications dealt with the importance of folic acid in the prevention of birth defects and the dangers of leaving diabetes untreated.

Popular in Latin America, fotonovelas are typically soap opera-like stories told through photos, dialogue bubbles and limited text, much like a comic book. With input from the community, Baron and his colleagues identified the fotonovela format as an effective way to educate Spanish-speakers who may not be reached by traditional means.

“We held focus groups in the area to identify the best way to teach people about health,” said Baron, an associate professor of clinical pharmacy. “The fotonovela ranked high as a way to communicate to our USC neighbors.

“The first two fotonovelas had an overwhelmingly positive response,” he said. “We use the foibles of human beings to get our message across and it works. People relate to our characters.”

The latest fotonovela introduces a range of characters, both men and women, who suffer from depression. The story addresses cultural stigmas associated with mental illness and dispels myths that pose barriers to treatment. After a series of plot twists, the characters confront the stigmas and seek the care they need to treat their disease.

“In many Latino communities, depression is rarely discussed and dealt with,” Baron said.

Baron never expected to be the publisher of cutting-edge booklets that promote public health messages. But he is excited about the fotonovelas’ growing popularity, which has reached far beyond the local community.

He has fielded requests for the booklets from clinics and health officials across the country. His team also has staged readings of the fotonovelas at health fairs.

The USC Good Neighbors Campaign provided the seed money to help produce the fotonovelas, but, like all Good Neighbors projects, that money is leveraged with outside funds. For the depression project, Baron was awarded a $20,000 grant from Eli Lilly and Co. in addition to a Good Neighbors Campaign grant.

His team is also at work on another fotonovela, which will focus on pediatric asthma. For that project, he received a $50,000 grant from QueensCare, a nonprofit that provides health care for uninsured L.A. residents.

“Communication is one of our strongest tools to help people achieve optimal health,” Baron said. “These fotonovelas dispel myths and encourage people to seek professional treatment. This is a medium that really speaks to the community.”