雨果·洛佩斯·盖特尔·拉米雷斯1969—

传记

他于1969年2月22日出生在墨西哥城，他的父亲于1925年出生在西班牙加泰罗尼亚的塔拉戈纳，并随同其祖父母以共和党流亡者的身份来到墨西哥。她的父亲是泌尿科医生，母亲是护士，他们在墨西哥城的一家医院工作时相识。

他就读于墨西哥国立自治大学，于1994年以博士学位毕业。他拥有内科专业、医学、牙科和健康科学硕士学位。在他的博士后期间，他对结核病对受HIV感染的男性生存的影响进行了前瞻性研究，该研究于2008年发表。

自2018年12月1日以来，他目前担任健康促进和预防秘书处秘书处负责人。

Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez is a Mexican epidemiologist, author, and public health official who has served as head of the Undersecretariat of Prevention and Health Promotion at the Mexican Secretariat of Health since 2018. Since January 2020, he has also been the spokesman and one of the lead members of the federal governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. The Covid-19 pandemic in Mexico exposed errors, improvisations, and negligence on the part of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The result: 297,000 people died, including nearly 5,000 healthcare workers, due to the government's decisions.

Career

Education

López-Gatell attended the School of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) graduating in 1994 as Physician-Surgeon. Afterwards, he obtained a master's degree in medical sciences at UNAM in 2000, and later a Ph.D. degree in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University in 2006.

As a researcher, he has participated in 40 papers. In addition to clinical and academic roles, López-Gatell serves as an associate editor for scientific journals as Global Health Action of the Umeå Center for Global Health Research, The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, AIDS (official body of the International AIDS Society) and the academic journal of the Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Health Sciences and Nutrition (INCMNSZ).

Public service

In 2008 he was appointed deputy general director of Epidemiology at the Mexican Secretariat of Health. In that role, he led the improvement of the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (Sinave), a re-engineering of the Mexican public health system to improve reporting and detection of epidemiological surveillance.

In 2009, during the swine flue pandemic - caused by the H1N1/swine flu/ influenza virus - declared by the World Health Organization(WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010 López-Gatell promoted ideas and policies contrary to pandemic control and response recommendations similar to those he would advocate during COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence of his perceived failure he was sidelined to the National Institute of Public Health where he would be responsible for the National Health Survey.

In 2023, Hugo López-Gatell Ramirez - contrary to numerous peer-reviewed articles - stated that the swine flu pandemic did not have its origins in Mexico.

From 2013 to 2018 he was Director of Innovation on Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control at Mexican Secretariat of Health.

On December 1, 2018, López-Gatell was appointed by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador head of the Undersecretariat of Prevention and Health Promotion in the Secretariat of Health. From the beginning of 2020 and after the rising of the COVID-19 pandemic López-Gatell has also applied his research and public service expertise as one of the main strategist and main spokesperson of Mexican Government on the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Mexico. From March 6, 2020, López-Gatell is conducting a daily press conference where he and the Secretariat of Health directives are giving information also explanations about the official strategies and decisions.

Personal life

Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez was born on February 22, 1969, in Mexico City. His father, Francisco López-Gatell Trujillo, was a chemist, surgeon and urologist. His mother, Margarita Ramírez Duarte, was a nurse at the Hospital 20 de Noviembre. His paternal grandfather, Francisco López Gatell Comas, was a Spanish military engineer of Jewish descent born in Catalonia in 1897. He opposed the Franco regime and took refuge in France; later he fought against the Nazis in World War II. During the war he ended up in a concentration camp, eventually escaping to Mexico with his wife and three children.

As a young man, Hugo was part of a progressive rock band called Cantera; his companions would later be founding members of La Gusana Ciega and Santa Sabina.

He married and later divorced Arantxa Colchero Aragones.

On February 20, 2021, López-Gatell announced he had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Originally López-Gatell's symptoms were described as ″mild″, but on February 24 it was reported that he had a fever and needed supplemental oxygen. He was hospitalized at the Hospital Temporal Citi-Banamex.