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Hector Balcazar, Ph.D.

Dr. Balcazar is the regional dean of public health at the University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, El Paso Regional Campus.  He is also a professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences.  Prior to joining UT, he was a professor and chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Texas.

Dr. Balcazar serves as the co-director of the Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center, a National Institutes of Health funded initiative in collaboration with the College of Health Sciences of UT at El Paso. Dr. Balcazar specializes in the study of public health problems of Latinos/Mexican Americans.  Dr. Balcazar is a bilingual, bicultural family and public health scientist who has conducted numerous studies of Latinos’ birth outcomes, acculturation and health related behaviors, cardiovascular disease prevention programs in Latinos, and border health issues.  As a Latino health specialist, Dr. Balcazar provides consultation and leadership to local and national health organizations.  Dr. Balcazar currently serves as a member of the editorial board of the American Public Health Association and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Society for Public Health Education.