Washington, District of Columbia, United States
He is a Medical Doctor and an Epidemiologist. He was Dean of the School of Public Health of Mexico at the National Institute of Public Health. He was General Director at Mexico’s Ministry of Health where he led the design and the Risk Analysis of the Federal Commission for Sanitary Risk Protection, the Health Services Organizational Reform, the Health Promotion Operative Model, the Healthy Nutrition National Strategy, and the non pharmaceutical interventions for Pandemic Influenza. Since August 1st, 2010, he joined PAHO/WHO, being responsible for Health and Human Security, Urban Health, Environmental Health, and Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health. He has been negotiator of regional and global agreements; he has published more than 130 papers and book chapters, and he has advised more than 25 masters and doctoral dissertations. His research has mainly contributed to risk analysis for health policy.
At the RF Unit we manage the four main population risk factors for NCDs: Alcohol, Tobacco, Diet and Physical Activity. So we support the development and implementation of policies to manage these risks within the región of the Americas. We further address the settings that may lead to improvements, such as urban health, school and work environments. Innovations on managing carcinogens are specially considered. At the health systems level we support the development and strengthening of stewardship / regulatory institutions, their organizational development and processes.
I was asked to support in the implementtion of the new Department of Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health. I had to address the organizational and logistics components as well as the human talent dimention of integrating a new department. Organizational change was as the core of the job. I had to manage the strategic planning for PAHO as well as for WHO. I had the priviledge of working with the Directing Council on passing a resolution on the Regional Plan for Non-Communicable Diseases as well as bringing the member states into the discussion of theinvolvement of other sectors, othe UN Agencies and nos-state actors into the management of NCDs
He joined the PAHO/WHO in 2010, as Senior Advisor on Human Security, passing three Directing Council resolutions: Health and Human Security (2010), the Strategy and Action Plan on Urban Health (2011); and the Action Plan on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) (2013). He contributed to the Child Obesity Prevention Regional Plan (2014). On Human Security he lead several consultative efforts included in PAHO’s Technical Reference Document on Health and Human Security, Implications for Public Health: these actions have influenced for Health as an entry point to Human Security in the 2012 UN Secretary General Report and UNGA Resolution (Sept. 2012). He was Coordinator for Urban Health and Social Determinants of Health, and Coordinator for the regional Occupational and Environmental Health team. Building on his extensive inter-sectorial work, he has contributed to three recent world summits, leading the health determinants component of the regional contribution to the UN-High Level Meeting on NCDs, the regional consultation for the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health and contributed to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Río+20).
As DG for Health Promotion (HP) he developed the Operative Model, integration HP services and introduced their professionalization. On health emergency preparedness and response he supported the HP interventions during the 2007 Tabasco floods; he led the non pharmacological Response to the 2009 Pandemic Influenza A(H1N1) in Mexico and its global concerns. He was responsible of the launching of the 2007-12 National Strategy on HP and Prevention for a Better Health, and later on the Action Program for a New Culture including the unified National Health Card, School Health, Migrant HP (Vete Sano Regresa Sano), and Healthy Settings and Communities, including urban health. He supported the pilot study to develop the monitoring system on health determinants. He led with the Secretariat of Labor the overhawl of the Occupational Diseases Table and the development of a HP Program in Occupational Settings. He agreed with the Food Industry on Mexico’s first children’s food and beverages marketing auto regulation code. He developed and negotiated “Salud Alimentaria”, the National Policy on Food, Obesity and Chronic Diseases. He was a member of the Knowledge Network on Urban Health of the WHO Commission for Social Determinants.
He spent nine years as Director General (DG) at Mexico’s Federal Ministry of Health. He is characterized by his mix of methodological, organizational development/change and focus on execution. At the DG Environmental Health he established Health Risk Analysis for Policy Framework for decision making; he led the design and law reform creating the Federal Commission for Sanitary Risk Protection as part of Mexico’s Health Reform on universal health. He participated in FDA and EPA-Mexico negotiations and as delegate to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. As DG for Equity/Planning and Development he managed the health component of the poverty alleviation program Oportunidades; he headed the Health Services Organizational Strengthening Program and the National Infrastructure Master Plan while managing the World Bank loan.