Road safety and communication. Why Professor Martha Híjar chose research over public service

BMJ talk medicine

Professor Martha Híjar has recently made the decision of leaving her role as the Director of the National Council for Injury Prevention of the Ministry of Health in México to go back to research. She explains why in this conversation with Professor Rod McClure. She is a professor at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México and author and co-author of many articles in the Injury Prevention field, the majority of which are written in Spanish, so "they can reach all her colleagues in Latin America” she tells. Professor Híjar also talks about taking on the job of editing Injury Prevention and explores her Mexico-city-based career path in this field. References to the mentioned papers below: - Baker SP. Childhood Injuries: The Community Approach to Prevention. J Public Health Policy 2:235-246, 1981. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3342369 - Híjar MC, Carrillo C, Flores M, Anaya R, Lopez MV. Factores de riesgo de lesión por accidentes de tráfico y el impacto de una intervención en carretera. (Risk factors for road traffic injuries on highway, impact of an intervention on the road) Rev Saúde Pública de Brasil.1999, 33 (5):505-51. https://www.scielosp.org/pdf/rsp/1999.v33n5/505-512/es - Híjar M, Troste J, Bronfman M. Pedestrian injuries in México: a multi-method approach. Social Science & Medicine 2003, 57(11):2149-2159. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953603000674