The Health Initiative of the Americas (HIA) a program of the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health (UCB-SPH) was established in 2001. HIA draws upon the multidisciplinary scholarship and the moral calling of UC Berkeley faculty and students to produce new knowledge through action-oriented research; teaching and mentoring; and service and community engagement programs benefitting the migrant population of Latino origin in the United States.

The Migration and Health Research Program (PIMSA), is one of the action-oriented research areas operated by HIA, and also the largest US-Mexico leading academic network of researchers and doctoral students generating scientific literature in this field; translating findings to inform decision makers, the media, and service providers; and producing health education materials for immigrants and advocates. Since 2003 PIMSA has financed 116 binational teams and 46 graduate students, distributed to 30 institutions in seven states of the United States and 45 institutions in 16 states in Mexico. Current partners are Mexico’s Secretariat of Health (SSA) through the US-Mexico Border Health Commission, the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT), the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); the University of Texas at El Paso, the Univeristy of Arizona, and the UC-Mexico Initiative, Health Working Group.

UCSB’s Chicana/o Studies professor San Juanita Garcia and her colleague Dr. Montes de Oca Zavala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM), Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales receive the PIMSA grant for UndocuAging: A Binational Study on Older Mexican Undocumented Migrants and Deportees’ Mental Health.