Asa Cristina Laurell

Laurell received her undergraduate degree in medicine from Lund University in 1967. She later studied as a scholarship recipient at the University of California, Berkeley, where she obtained a Master of Public Health with a specialization in epidemiology. In 1971, she emigrated to Mexico, where she completed a doctorate in sociology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1987. == Career ==

Academic work Laurell joined the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1972 as a researcher and professor. In 1976, she moved to the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Xochimilco campus), where she focused her research on health as a socio-biological process. Her work critically examines the impact of neoliberal policies on Latin American health systems, advocating for social determinants to be the primary focus of public health policy. Political work In 2000, Laurell was appointed Secretary of Health for the Federal District (Mexico City) by then-Head of Government Andrés Manuel López Obrador. During her tenure (2000–2006), she implemented the Free Medication and Medical Services Program (PSMMG), which aimed to provide universal access to healthcare for residents without social security. Following the 2018 presidential election, she was appointed Undersecretary of Integration and Development at the federal Ministry of Health. In this role, she championed the transformation of the Mexican health system toward a unified, free-at-the-point-of-care model. Laurell resigned from the Ministry of Health in June 2020, citing disagreements with Secretary Jorge Alcocer regarding the restructuring of the health department. In October 2020, she returned to public service as the Director of Institutional Transformation at the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). == Publications ==

• Social policy and health policy in Latin America: a field of political struggle, published in Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 2017. • Three Decades of Neoliberalism in Mexico: The Destruction of Society, published in the International Journal of Health Services, 2015. • What Does Latin American Social Medicine Do When It Governs? The Case of the Mexico City Government, published in the American Journal of Public Health, 2003. == References ==