Hispanic Health Professional Training Internships
in HIV/AIDS and Related Infections
in the U.S./Mexico Border Region

Jose Luis Burgos, MD, AAHIVS recently graduated from the school of public health from the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California. He acquired his medical degree in 1985 from the School of Medicine at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. He has been an HIV/AIDS medical provider in Tijuana, Mexico since 1990, he acquired the certification as an HIV medical specialist from the American Academy of HIV Medicine in 2005, he has collaborated with several binational projects in the San Diego-Tijuana region including the Acceso project in 2002, a social marketing project for early detection of tuberculosis among Hispanic population in the border region, and more recently the TIES project for development trainings on HIV/AIDS prevention along the northwest US-Mexico border region, a collaboration between the University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, El Colegio de la Frontera Notre and Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. His current research interests are in economical evaluation of health care interventions for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in limited resource settings and in applied Bayesian methods for economical evaluation. As part of his HSHPS training, Dr. Burgos is developing a research project for cost effectiveness analysis for detection of latent tuberculosis infection in high risk population in Tijuana Mexico.

Jason Daniel is a 2nd year Health Behavior PhD student. He received his MPH at San Diego State University. His thesis was an observational study in Exotic Dance Clubs to assess variables associated with health risks, especially sex work and assault. He has been working in Public Health Research for the past 7 years and has studied a broad range of topics, including risk profiles of HIV testers, program evaluation, cultural analysis, Intervention quality control, and ETS avoidance behavioral counseling. Throughout his studies, the one common theme was the study of populations that are underserved or stigmatized, which has led to his interest in sex workers and substance users. He is currently studying the correlates of unsafe sex practices of injection drug users from Proyecto El Cuete. Jason also has a strong commitment to mentoring and teaching. He will be teaching Human Sexuality this Fall at Mesa Community College.

Robert Deiss, MD recently graduated from the University of California, San Diego and also holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Southern California. His research interests include HIV/TB epidemiology, international medical economics and cultural paradigms in medical education. He has published original research on pharmaceutical patents in Africa and also presented research at the International Aids Society Conference in 2006 on drug and sexual risk behaviors among men who inject drugs and who have sex with men (MSM/IDU). As part of his HSHPS training, Dr. Deiss is preparing a review article on tuberculosis among injection drug users which will inform the development of interventions along the San Diego/Tijuana border.

Edna Díaz, MD, received her degree in medicine in 1992 from the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. She has done extensive work in the area of HIV prevention for the City of Tijuana General Hospital, the Ambulatory Care Center for Patients with HIV/AIDS and STIs in Tijuana, and other state and city agencies in Mexico. Most recently, she was appointed as the Director of Centro Ambulatorio para la Prevención y Atención del SIDA e Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual (C.A.P.A.C.I.T.S.), an HIV clinic funded by ISESALUD in Baja California. Her involvement with public health entities in Baja California and having witnessed the devastation of this disease due to limited public and educational resources, mainly in the US/Mexico border cities, has prompted her to a more proactive role in the prevention and early detection of the disease. Her goals during this internship are to build up her research capabilities and to explore, develop and implement new and/or improved evaluation and intervention instruments aimed to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the San Diego/Tijuana border community.