Texas Biomed Staff

Raul A. Bastarrachea

Staff Scientist II | Genetics and SNPRC
Phone: 210-258-9731
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Education

Doctoral Degree: M.D. Medicine (1986)

University of Yucatan School of Medicine Merida, Yucatan, TX, Mexico

Bachelor's Degree B.S. B.S.

Colegio Americano, Merida Yucatan , Mexico

Postdoctoral Work

1989 - Advanced Term Training Program in Medicine (Exchange Sponsorship Fellow) Academic Medical Center: Ohio University College of Medicine, Athens, Ohio, USA. Mentor: Dr. Frederick W. Rente, Director of Medical Education; Affiliated Teaching Hospital: O'Blennes Memorial Hospital. (Study Concentration in Metabolic Diseases and Obesity)

1999 - Advanced Degree in Clinical Nutrition and Obesity. Institute of Technology and Higher Studies, Monterrey (Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey – ITESM Campus Merida, Mexico) Registration No. 2598

Research Focus

Raul A. Bastarrachea is currently working as a Staff Scientist with the Auxology & Metabolism Working Group in the Department of Genetics of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, located in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Since coming to the Department of Genetics in July 2003, he has been involved in the development of using the baboon as a non-human primate model for the study of fat tissue metabolism. He helped to develop a funded proposal for a component included in the Southwest National Primate Research Center grant renewal, which focuses on the annual metabolic profiling of a cohort of baboons throughout their adult lives in order to help establish diagnostic criteria for glucose and lipid dysregulation. He is investigating whether commonly prescribed anti-diabetic drugs influence the genetic control of adipose endocrine function to improve abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism. The goal is to establish the utility of these animals for pharmacogenomic studies of anti-obesity and anti-diabetic drugs.

His long-term research goal is in the area of genetic epidemiology. He intends to establish a database for Mexican families following a study design similar to that of the San Antonio Family Heart Study (SAFHS) and the San Antonio Family Diabetes Study (SAFDS). He has initiated this effort by contacting prospective collaborators in different regions of Mexico, who will be able to establish centers for data collection that will be linked to a University’s Medical School and affiliated General Hospital. The major goal of this project will be to identify genes influencing obesity and its related co-morbidities such as type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and fatty liver disease. A major strength of this project, which focuses on Mexican populations, is that it will allow for direct comparison of results to those obtained from Mexican Americans participating in the SAFHS and SAFDS, thus enabling evaluation of the effects of different regional environments, lifestyle, and varying degrees of admixture, in addition to genetics of obesity and its related phenotypes.

Awards and Honors

General Organizer, First Medical Meeting on Obesity and its Complications, endorsed by the Yucatan College of Physicians, Medical Society of the Southeast for the Study of Obesity, the Yucatecan Society for General Medicine, and the University of Yucatan School of Medicine. Mérida, Yucatán. February 1994.

Organizer, First Forum of the Permanent Campaign Against the Abuse of Drugs Inappropriate to Loss Weight, coordinated by the Secretary of Health Yucatan State Government, Coordinated Public Health Services of the University of Yucatán School of Medicine, and the Yucatan College of Physicians, July, 1995. Mérida, Yucatan.

Medical Director. Mexican Red Cross, Valladolid Delegation. November 1985 - May 1986. Valladolid, Yucatán.

Academic - Scientific Committee Member, College of Physicians, Yucatán (Colegio de Medicos de Yucatan A.C.) 1997-1999.

Member and Founding Associate of the Peninsular College of Clinical Nutrition and Obesity (Colegio Peninsular de Nutrición Clínica y Obesidad A.C., ex-SOMESEO)

Representative for México, International Society the Study of Obesity 1994-2002

International Roundtable of the "Obesity Management Leadership Conference". February, 1997. Naples, Florida, USA.

Coordinator, National Expert Committee, National Consensus Group on Obesity. Health Foundation of Mexico. Responsible for the Topic: Pharmacological Treatment of Obesity. June 1997. Mexico City.

Chairman. Continuing Medical Education (CME) Course on Obesity, North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO), accredited by the American Society for Clinical Nutrition. November 1997. Mérida, Yucatán.

Co-Chairman. NAASO Annual Conference. November, 1997. Cancun, Quintana Roo.

Member, Education Committee, North American Society for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) 1998.

Faculty, Harvard Medical School Department of Continuing Medical Education, “Treatment of Obesity and Eating Disorders” Conference. Boston (Cambridge), MA, USA. 1999.

Guest, Symposium in Honor of the Contribution of George Bray, M.D., to the field of Obesity. November 12 – 14, 1999. Seabrook Island, South Carolina, USA.

Member, Local Organizing Committee. XXXIX Annual Meeting. Mexican Society for Nutrition and Endocrinology. December 1999. Mérida, Yucatán, México.

Honorary President, 1st Regional Congress on Parenteral and Enteral Feeding and Obesity, endorsed by the Mexican Association of Parenteral and Enteral Feeding, and the Michoacan University of San Nicolas de Hidalgo. January, 2000, Zamora, Michoacan.

Chair. Symposium entitled “Advances in Genetics, pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of Obesity” during the 25th World Congress on Internal Medicine. June 9th, 2000. Hotel Fiesta Americana Coral Beach. Cancun, Mexico.

Chair. International Symposium and Continuing Medical Education Course (CME) sponsored by NAASO and the Sociedad Mexicana de Nutricion y Endocrinologia. Hotel Fiesta Americana Reforma. August 24, 25 and 26, 2,000. Mexico City.

Head of the Approved Project to Establish the First Department of Nutrition and Metabolism in the General City Hospital belonging to the Secretary of Health of the Yucatan State Government. (The Department is working since June 1st, 2002)

Coeditor of the first academic book on obesity called “Obesity in Mexico” published by McGraw-Hill for all Latin American. Written in Spanish

Publications

Valuable lessons from research on drugs for adolescent obesity in Mexico.

Bastarrachea RA, Lopez-Alvarenga J, Calzada-Leon R, Arellano-Montano S, Gonzalez-Barranco J.
Adv Ther. 23 (3): 506-7, 2006

Vinculando la respuesta inflamatoria, la obesidad y la diabetes con la sobrecarga (estrés) del retículo endoplásmico a través de las acciones de la selenoproteína S

Bastarrachea RA, Curran JE, Bolado VE, Kent J, López-Alvarenga JC, Téllez-Mendoza J, Blangero J, Comuzzie AG
Rev Edocrinol Nutr 14 (2): 89-101, 2006