The Border Epidemiology and Environmental Health Center (BEC), founded in 1998, is an international, collaborative research center which supports and applies scientific research to reduce health disparities among minority populations–with emphasis in Hispanics–through research, intervention, evaluation, training, and dissemination.

The BEC encourages involvement in research by identifying research opportunities for academics, students and community-base organizations; conducts original interdisciplinary research to reduce disparities in health by studying approaches to promote healthful behaviors and prevent disease across the lifespan. Provides technical assistance to community-based organizations for needs assessment and program evaluation and maintains collaborative relationships with higher education institutions, research centers, and its community partners.

The research conducted at BEC focuses on areas of racial/ethnic health disparities, preventive health, disease surveillance, environmental health, and community-based participatory research, in disease areas such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, vector-borne and food-borne disease.

The BEC is funded by external grants primarily from federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, in addition to state and local agencies and foundations. BEC provides health research training to junior faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

The BEC’s projects include education and training of Promotoras and health providers from Southern New Mexico, Health Education and Disease Prevention programs, binational public health interventions and health disparities research. The two common denominators of all these projects are the binational approach and the focus on Hispanic population. Several of its projects has been awarded or recognized by national and regional organizations.