Maria Elena Medina-Mora

           Born in 1953, National of Mexico. Director, Division of Epidemiology and Psychosocial Research, National Institute of Psychiatry, Mexico City (since 1999). Member of the Board of Adjudication and Researcher, National Institute of Health. Researcher, National System of Researchers. Member of the Colegio Nacional (since 2006).

           Recipient of a Bachelor of Arts degree (with honours) in Psychology (1976) and a Master of Arts degree (with honours) in Clinical Psychology (1979), Ibero-American University, Mexico; recipient of a doctoral degree in Social Psychology, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México (1992). Member of the Board of Governors, Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México (since 2003). Member of the WHO Expert Committee on Addictions (since 1986). Research collaborator, WHO project on increasing comparability of drug use surveys (1976-1980) Researcher with WHO, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto, Canada, and the Alcohol Research Group, California, United States, as well as with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health, United States. Cooperated with the working group of the international board of drug surveillance in developing the Lisbon consensus document for drug reporting (2000) and with the working group that developed the draft Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction (1997). Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee, Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD). Member of the National Academy of Sciences (since 1992), National Association of Psychologists of Mexico (since 1991) and the National Academy of Medicine (since 1994). Member of the Board of Directors, National Institute of Public Health (1997-2005) and National Institute on Neurology and Neurosurgery (since 2006). Professor at the undergraduate and graduate levels and adviser for 67 Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and doctoral theses (since 1976). Member of the editorial board of Revista de Psicología Social y Personalidad, Salud Mental, Revista Mexicana de Psicología and Salud Pública de México, Public Psychiatry, Addictions, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Addiction Disorders and Their Treatment and Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatría. Recipient of the "Gerardo Varela" national award in public health, for meritorious research (1986); the award for professional excellence, presented by the Ibero-American University to distinguished former alumni (1990); first prize for contributions to research in the fields of psychology and health, presented during the International Congress on Psychology and Health (1990); national prize in psychology, awarded by the National Association of Psychologists (1991); national prize in psychiatrics, presented by the Camelo Foundation (1993); second prize for an article entitled "Gender and addictions", awarded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, the World Bank, WHO and the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (1997). Recognized as distinguished health professional by the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics (2002) and as honorary member by the Sociedad Mexicana de Psicología (2006). Recipient of the Woman of the Year Award (2006). Author of more than 163 research papers in journals and of four books.

           Member of the International Narcotics Control Board (2000-2004 and 2007). Rapporteur (2002) and Second Vice-President (2003) of the Board. Member of the Standing Committee on Estimates (2000-2004 and 2007). Chairman of the Standing Committee on Estimates (2004).