Dr. Dean Carter founding director of the UA Superfund Program

Dr. A. Jay Gandolfi at Sociedad Quimica de Mexico meeting.

U..S.-Mexico Binational Center for Environmental Sciences and Toxicology
The University of Arizona's (UA) U.S.-Mexico Binational Center for Environmental Sciences and Toxicology evolved through the diligent efforts of several independent groups:

UA Superfund Basic Research Program - Outreach Core
All National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Programs (SBRP) were required to have an Outreach Program.  Since the UA Toxicology Center already had an active program educating teachers, Dr. Dean Carter, initiated a unique program for outreach to Mexico.  This program was based on the long standing collaborations that SBRP and UA investigators had with Mexican colleagues.  In its first years, the Outreach to Mexico Program, maintained the collaborations between U.S. and Mexican scientists and initiated a series of short courses on toxicology taught at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City as well as environmental toxicology and risk assessment workshops for Mexican students and professionals in towns along the Border.  An early success of the Outreach to Mexico Program was the production of a toxicology textbook in Spanish.

Programa de Medio Ambiente (Program of the Environment)
Established by Dr. Octavio Rivero-Serrano at UNAM to provide toxicology training techniques and instruction in risk assessment, this program sponsored courses on hazardous materials for firemen and formed hazmat teams. Dr. Rivero-Serrano was contracted with EnvironMD , a small company in Tucson, Arizona, to provide these courses.

Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy
Later, Dr. Robert Vardy from the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the UA worked with the Superfund Outreach Core concentrating on Border environmental health publications.

Early faculty partnerships included:

• Dean Carter, Ph.D.
• I. Glenn Sipes, Ph.D.  
• A. Jay Gandolfi, Ph.D.  
• Charlene McQueen, Ph.D.  
• Octavio Rivero-Serrano, Ph.D.  
• Guadalupe Ponciano, Ph.D.  
• Patricia Ostrosky–Wegman, Ph.D.
• Mariano Cebrian, Ph.D. 

This was the beginning of a strong relationship reinforced when Dr. William Suk and the NIEHS began sponsored research and Border policy meetings that included more than 100 U.S. and Mexican scientists, policy makers, and engineers.