SAN ANTONIO -- The inaugural Salud America summit kicked off Wednesday night at Institute of Texan Cultures with more than 200 researchers from around the country coming together to tackle the issue of childhood obesity among Hispanics.

"We're looking at the influence of family, schools and communities," said organizer Amelie Ramirez.

According to research by the Reverse Childhood Obesity campaign, 43 percent of Hispanic children are obese or overweight. As a result, Hispanic males have a 45 percent lifetime risk of developing diabetes and Hispanic females have a 53 percent lifetime risk.

Ramirez said the goal of this summit is to curb childhood obesity, and in turn, curb Type 2 diabetes.

"We feel if we can reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity, we'll be reducing a lifetime of risk factors in our children," said Ramirez.

The group will hear from former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona Thursday morning.

"We really hope Dr. Carmona can start a movement," Ramirez said.

The summit was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed at reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.