HHS Secretary Leavitt Meets with Members of the U.S. Mexico Border Health Commission June 2006

June 22, 2006 - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael O. Leavitt met with members of the U.S.-México Border Health Commission (BHC). Secretary Leavitt and México Secretary of Health Julio Frenk Mora serve as co-Chairs of the Commission. Secretary Leavitt congratulated new U.S. Section members on their March 2006 appointment by President Bush to the Commission, and encouraged the Commission to continue its evidence-based work on border health.

U.S. Section participants included newly-appointed section members Drs. Cecilia Rosales (Arizona), Bruce San Filippo (New Mexico), Antonio Falcon (Texas), along with Drs. J. Manuel de la Rosa (Texas) and Lawrence Kline (California). Dr. Dora Elia Cortés Hernández of the Mexican State of Nuevo León represented the Mexican Section of the Commission.  Other meeting participants included Dan Reyna, General Manager of the U.S. Section; Dr. Abelardo García Cantú, Director of the BHC's Outreach Office in the Mexican State of Nuevo León; Mr. Robert Guerrero, Director of the Office of Border Health in the Arizona Department of Health Services; and Ms. Laura Reichhardt of the BHC's Arizona Outreach Office.

The meeting capped a week during which the BHC members met with numerous senior officials from HHS Operating and Staff Divisions, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legislation, the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Office of Global Health Affairs, the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Indian Health Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.

Last revised: October 10, 2007