Puentes: Population Health Across the US-Mexico Border

Tue, 02/27/2018 | by Claire Hutkins Seda

Deliana Garcia standing next to five members of the migrant health team

Last week, MCN’s Deliana Garcia, Director of International Projects and Emerging Issues, joined dozens of population health researchers for a multi-day summit at The University of Texas Dell Medical School entitled, “Puentes: Advancing Population Health Research,” focused on population health on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border. Mexican health institutes joined UT Austin researchers and selected US researchers like Garcia to envision interventions and approaches that bridge the health systems in the two countries and provide a path forward to health. Topics included migrant health, social determinants of health, maternal health, chronic disease, and environmental health.

As a member of the Migrant Health work group, MCN contributed to the “Building a Research Collaborative on the Well-Being of Families Returning to Mexico” initiative, in development between the states of Texas and Michoacán.

“The opportunity to collaborate with our External Advisory Board member, Dr. Luis Zayas or our MCN Board of Directors Chair Emeritus, Dr. Hugo Lopez-Gatell gives depth to relationships many years in the making,” Garcia said. “MCN is excited to collaborate more closely with our UT and Mexican counterparts to continue our work to improve the lives of migrant families.”