Universidad Autonoma de Baja California

Fellowship Site: Tijuana, Mexico

Both UABC and their joint fellows site the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) have dedicated research departments/units. Both institutions have dedicated mentors to oversee research activities and train medical students and other health professionals. There is a long tradition of research collaboration between IMSS Unidad de Medicina Familiar No. 27 and UABC faculty members, clinicians and researchers. Researchers from both institutes have important binational research collaborations with academic and training institutions in San Diego, such as UCSD, SDSU, Scripps Whittier Institute. Baja California IMSS provides social and medical services to approximately 1.3 million people every year. Tijuana IMSS Clinic 27 by itself is the largest in the Mexican public health system with 41 medical attention modules and a population of 279,000 IMSS insured patients.IMSS has successfully incorporated a formidable electronic record and management system that enables researchers to easily collect and analyze current/live data from all clinical modules.

In addition to all preventive medicine and second level units, Tijuana IMSS has the following specialized clinics: HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular, liver-related disease and transplants. IMSS has identified and supported 12 priority research areas. These areas include: diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, infectious diseases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, pregnancy complications (hypertension), demographic transition/aging, accidents and injuries, breast and cervical cancer.

Research Opportunities:

Main research projects available for fellow inclusion are:

• Center of Excellence to Counter Chronic Diseases on the US-Mexico Border
• Behavioral Interventions for HIV/AIDS High-Risk Women in Mexico
• Community Translational Science Award (CTSA) (Research Center with $30 million)
• Diabetes Specific Peer Education Program can Improve Critical and Behavioral Outcomes
• TIES Project: HIV/AIDS Prevention Training Program in the Northwestern Region of Mexico)
• UABC Center for Clinical Research Training in AIDS and TB
• Prevalence  of peripheral neuropathy in patients with diabetes type 2, diagnosed  by electromyography at UMF 27 Tijuana
• Associated factors to hypertension disease in pregnancy compared with healthy patients: a case control study at  Regional General Hospital No. 1  Tijuana, BC
• Sexual dysfunction in women with diabetes mellitus: a case control study 
• Socio-demographic and clinical differences between young and older women with breast cancer

Housing/Meals/Transportation:

UABC and IMSS will be committed to facilitate arrangements for the initial housing of our fellows. IMSS and UABC have a number of students from other regions of the country that regularly rent and share private apartments. It is important to highlight that in the past, US scholars that collaborate with UABC or IMSS have not required to live in Tijuana because of the proximity to the San Diego, US region. UABC is located 5 minutes away from the US border. US scholars will have the choice to live in San Diego or Tijuana. If fellow chooses to live in San Diego, Scripps Health can help facilitate access to temporary housing. Both the US and local scholars will be encouraged to apply for a fast-pass to cross the US-Mexico border with limited delays. 

Health Issues:

IMSS and UABC with the assistance of the American Consulate in Tijuana will provide orientation and recommendation to the Fogarty scholars about health and food safety guidelines. The American Consulate in Tijuana has many resources available to foreign visitors.

The NIH/ICRF program requires all trainees to see a physician before they leave for assignment abroad. Please visit U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The Yellow Book: Health Information for International Travel for more information.

Safety Issues:

See the U.S. State Department website for more information. 

Language requirement other than English:

Lack of Spanish skills will not significantly affect the effectiveness of the US fellow research since most of our IMSS and UABC mentors are bilingual English/Spanish. Due to proximity to the US, most faculty and medical students are fluent or at least partially fluent in English. If necessary, students will be made available to assist the US fellow with specific translations, including patient interviewing. UABC has an outstanding on-site school of language that could provide fast training to the visiting Fogarty scholar. The school of language regularly provides intensive courses in Spanish for foreigners. Also, the school of language is conveniently located next to the UABC medical school.

What is it like to live in Mexico?

The Tijuana-San Diego region with close to five million inhabitants is a unique research laboratory because of the diversity of the population and the high level of migration that we experienced from all over the country and Central America. Tijuana is the busiest border in the world and houses a rich variety of ethnic populations. The border region of California and Baja California houses almost 50% of the entire population across the US-Mexico border. International fellows will have plenty of opportunity to study a wide spectrum of pathologies shared among binational communities. Research studies could not only be conducted in the Baja California region but also in the San Diego migrant communities. Tijuana is the biggest city along the Mexican side of the border and one of the fastest growing region. Tijuana offers the opportunity to study at any scale the epidemiological and demographic transition were infectious diseases merge together with raising chronic diseases. Scholars could sub-focus their studies in health migration. In addition, the institutions applying for the Fogarty Center status have long-time binational relationships in academic and research projects. Although most of our previous collaboration has been around infectious diseases and limited chronic diseases, local UABC and IMSS researchers are eager to strengthen our research experience and improve our international research network as well as our local capacities.