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Xochitl Castañeda | |
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| Education | Director of the Health Initiative of the Americas at the School of Public Health |
| Website | https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/people/xochitl-castaneda/ |
Xochitl Castaneda is the founding director of the Health Initiative of the Americas (HIA) at the School of Public Health, University of California (UC) Berkeley.
A medical anthropologist, Xochitl was educated in Guatemala and Mexico. She completed post-doctoral fellowships at UC San Francisco, Harvard University, and Amsterdam University. [1]
Xochitl Castañeda served as Professor of Public Health Sciences and a Principal Investigator at Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health for seven years and has also directed the Department of Reproductive Health. [2]
Since 2008, she has served as a professor in Migration and Health at various University of California campuses. [3]
In 2020, Xochitl founded the Health Education for Latinos Program (HELP), a fund that provides annual graduate and undergraduate scholarships to low-income Latino students pursuing careers in health. [4]
Under her leadership, the HIA has coordinated Binational Health Week for 23 consecutive years, one of the largest mobilization efforts in the Americas to improve the well-being of Latino immigrants. She stablished the Annual Binational Policy Forum on Migration and Global Health, a collaboration among 30 universities and over 200 agencies. She is also the founder of the Athena Network, a global organization for the mental health of mobile populations. She has signed 50 memorandums of understanding with local, state, and federal institutions.
She has also served on the board of directors and other membership positions of 20 organizations and programs including the California Wellness Foundation, California Immigrant Policy Center, CDC National Diabetes Education Program, the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, and the National Council of Mexican Federations in North America (COFEM).
In 2010, the California Latino Legislative Caucus honored her with the National Spirit Award for her leadership in improving the health of Latino immigrants in the U.S. In 1999, she received the National Mexican Award in Social Science and Medicine.
In 2019, she received the Ohtli Award, presented by the Mexican government to a person who has positively affected the lives of Mexican nationals in the United States and beyond.
In 2020, she received the National Health Award in the "Without Borders" category.
Xochitl has over 200 publications and has served as a consultant for more than 40 national and international institutions. She has contributed to the editorial board to 15 professional publications. She has presented her academic and advocacy work in over 500 national and international conferences, symposiums, policy briefings, and other events.
