Exploring Social, Economic and Environmental Determinants of Health
Break the Cycle of Children’s Environmental Health Disparities in Latin America Symposium for the
22nd Annual International Conference on Urban Health
in Mexico City
on October 12-17, 2026.
Break the Cycle of Health Disparities, Inc.
In Partnership with
International Society for
Children’s Health and the Environment
International Society for Urban Health
presents:
Break the Cycle
of Children’s Environmental Health Disparities
in Latin America
Monday October 12, 2026
At the
22nd ICUH Conference in Mexico City, Mexico
Questions on project ideas or program details can be directed to our Break the Cycle Program Coordinator, Ximena Guillen at contact@breakthecycleprogram.org or to Break the Cycle Director, Leslie Rubin MD at lrubi01@emory.edu.
Students and Speakers
Montserrat Mendoza Martínez
Environmental Justice for Children: Reducing Plastic-Related Exposures and Promoting Alternatives in Indigenous Communities in Mexico
Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP)
PhD Candidate in Environmental Sciences at the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP), in the Multidisciplinary Program in Environmental Sciences (PMPCA)
Dr. Fernando Díaz Barriga Martínez, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP) / PAHO Collaborating Center
Montserrat Mendoza is a scientist and environmental activist committed to environmental health. She is pursuing a PhD in Environmental Sciences at UASLP/PAHO Collaborating Center, researching plastic pollution and environmental civic engagement to protect Indigenous and vulnerable communities. She holds degrees in Environmental Sciences and Public Health. She coordinates volunteer groups focused on environmental education, citizen participation, and climate justice.
Angélica Torres Díaz
Children’s Voices in Artisanal Mercury Mining: Environmental Exposure and the Intergenerational Reproduction of Health Disparities in Mexico
PhD Candidate in Environmental Sciences
Multidisciplinary Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences (PMPCA)
Dr. Fernando Díaz-Barriga Martínez
Student Bio
Pablo León Alazraki Salas
Toward Precision Surveillance of Childhood Lead Exposure in Mexico: Identifying Municipal Exposure Profiles
Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM)
Affiliation
Mara Tellez Rojo, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (INSP)
Pablo León Alazraki Salas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Data Science from ITAM and is currently pursuing a specialization in Artificial Intelligence and a Master’s degree in Applied Computational Sciences, also at ITAM. He has published two research articles and is particularly interested in projects that leverage technology and data to create meaningful social impact.
Daniela Cruz Torres
Urinary fluoride and early kidney injury biomarkers in underprivileged children before and after an intervention in an endemic fluorosis area
Master of Science
Environmental health
Martha María Tellez Rojo
Daniela Cruz Torres is a biologist who recently graduated with a Master of Science in Environmental Health from the Instituto Nacional de Salud
Pública de México. Her academic training has focused on environmental
and public health, particularly heavy metal bioremediation and children’s exposure to fluoride through drinking water. Her main areas of interest include ecotoxicology, climate change, and the development of strategies to address emerging environmental challenges.
Lizette Rodríguez Pacheco
Environmental lead and arsenic exposure and kidney function in children from Tlaxcala, Mexico in a context of health disparities
Master of Science
Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán
Norma Pérez Herrera & Manolo Ortega Romero
Student Bio
Nataly Damasceno de Figueiredo, MSc, PhD.
Intrauterine and Urban Metal Exposure in Rio de Janeiro: birth cohort Evidence for Surveillance, Education, and Targeted Health Action. PIPA UFRJ - Brazil
Professor at the School of Medicine of Souza Marques University Center, she is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Environmental Health/Epidemiology at the Institute of Collective Health Studies, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (IESC/UFRJ, since 2022). She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York (2023–2024). Currently serving as a fellow at the International Society of Children's Environmental Health Researchers to Action program. Additionally, she serves as Executive Coordinator of the Childhood and Environmental Pollution Birth Cohort (PIPA Project: https://pipaufrj.me.ufrj.br/).
Enrique Cifuentes MD, PhD, MMedSci
Public Health in Mexico Megacity: The Environmental Dimension in Children’s Health Disparities
Retired, 2024 (Extended sabbatical and hiking in remote places),
2020-2024, Visiting Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City. Implemented on line courses for students and young professionals from Latin American and the Caribbean. These courses focused on public health challenges in rapidly growing cities,
2010-2019 , Research Scientist, Harvard School of Public health, conducting
epidemiological investigation on the food environment and obesity in children from Mexico City, Guadalajara. Implemented an exchange program and field-based courses involving dozens on students,
1995- 2010, Researcher- Professor, National Institute of Public Health, Mexico.
Director of the PEHSU, Mexico.
1995, PhD, London School of Tropical Medicine (UK). Research on water, sanitation and public health in periurban areas,
1982- 1991, Director, Community Health projects in indigenous communities, Mexico.
1979 - 1982, MMedSci Community Medicine, University of London
1978. MD, UNAM, Mexico.
Dr. Carlos A. Faerron Guzmán
Acting on Power: An Essential Approach to Environmental Health Inequities
Synopsis: This presentation examines how unequal distributions of power shape who is most exposed to environmental change, who experiences the greatest health consequences, and who has the ability to influence the decisions that affect them. Drawing on the power–health–environment nexus, it explores how environmental degradation and even some responses to it can reinforce existing health inequities when underlying power imbalances are left unaddressed. It argues that advancing environmental and planetary health requires moving beyond vulnerability alone to explicitly confront power, representation, and the structural conditions that determine whose health is protected and whose is placed at risk.
Carlos A. Faerron Guzmán is a global health professional with a deep-rooted passion for education and a commitment to promoting health equity, addressing complexity, and emphasizing the importance of values in shaping a better world.Costa Rican physician, educator, and scholar whose work connects global health, planetary health, equity, governance, and transformative education. His work pays particular attention to the values that shape collective decisions in the face of the Anthropocene. He has worked in primary health care in Indigenous territories in southern Costa Rica and has led initiatives with communities, universities, public institutions, and international networks. He is an Associate Professor at the
University of Maryland, Baltimore, the Director of the InterAmerican Center for Global Health, and Senior Advisor at the Planetary Health Alliance at
Johns Hopkins University.
He holds adjunct positions at Northwestern University, Harvard University, and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. He is a fellow of the Central American Healthcare Initiative and a visiting scholar at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.
