![](https://pplstatic.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/static/images/dummy-gradient.jpg)
Quick Facts
Biography
José Narro Robles (born December 5, 1948 in Saltillo, Coahuila) is a Mexican researcher and academic. He is a former director of the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and was elected the 23rd Rector of that institution on November 20, 2007. After leaving the UNAM in 2015, he became the Mexican Secretary of Health.
Narro Robles graduated with a bachelor's degree in Medicine with honours at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (1973) and holds a postgraduate degree in Community Medicine from the University of Birmingham (1978) in the United Kingdom.
He has published over 56 articles and has enacted as advisor for the World Health Organization. He has been an active a member of the National Academy of Medicine since 1992.
Aside from the academic field, José Narro Robles has worked as General Director of Health Services of the Mexican Federal District, as the Secretary-General of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), Undersecretary of Migratory Services and Population at the Ministry of the Interior (Secretaría de Gobernación) and Undersecretary of Health at the Federal Secretariat of Health.
In February 2016, Narro was tapped by President Enrique Peña Nieto to replace Mercedes Juan as head of the Mexican Secretariat of Health.
biography
He started his studies at the National Preparatory School, later entered the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico through the automatic pass, where in 1973 he obtained the title of surgeon with honorable mention. Between 1976 and 1978 he completed postgraduate studies in the field of community medicine at the University of Birmingham in England. In January of 1974 he joined the Faculty of Medicine of the UNAM as a member of the academic staff.
In the University he has been Head of the Department of General Family and Community Medicine, has been Director General of Academic Extension, General Director of Planning, Secretary General of the University and General Coordinator of the University Reform of the Special Commission for the University Congress (CECU) in 2002 as a representative of the Rectory, after the CGH during the Student Strike of the UNAM (1999-2000) demanded the formation of the university congress, a congress that never happened. In February 2003, he was appointed Director of the Faculty of Medicine by the Governing Board of the UNAM, and four years later he was commissioned to lead a second term.
In the federal public administration, he has held a number of positions, among them the Director General of Public Health for the Federal District in the Ministry of Health, General Director of Medical Services in the Department of the Federal District, General Secretary of the Mexican Social Security Institute , President of the Fundación Cambio XXI and the National Institute of Ecology.
In the Ministry of the Interior he was the head of the sub-secretariats of Population and Migratory Services and also of Government, while in the Ministry of Health he did in the Health Services and Sectoral Coordination.
He has published 56 articles in scientific journals included in the most accepted national and international indexes, mainly on issues of education, public health and health services administration. In addition, he has published 23 chapters of academic books. In his scientific articles he has shared credits with doctors such as Guillermo Soberón, David Kershenovich or Héctor Fernández Varela and his contributions have appeared in books edited by academics such as Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Donato Alarcón, Jesús Kumate, José Laguna and Jaime Martuscelli.
He has been advisor to the WHO and different health agencies in Mexico and the world, has several Doctorates Honoris Causa and is part of scientific and medical organizations. He was president of the Siglo XXI Foundation of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
On November 13, 2007, he was appointed Rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. On November 10, 2011, he was confirmed for a second term.
The 8 of February of 2016 was designated by the president Enrique Peña Nieto like holder of the Secretary of Health in substitution of Mercedes Juan López.
Distinction
He received an Honoris Causa Doctorate from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, for his career and contributions in the public domain of Mexico on December 5, 2012.
The Autonomous University of Tabasco was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa in 2011, "for its incessant defense of the public university and its autonomy." The Autonomous University of Sinaloa also awarded it the same award on August 23, year. In 2015, the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (UASLP), also grants this privilege.