Dr. Osvaldo M. Mutchinick

Dr. Osvaldo M. Mutchinick is the head of the Department of Genetics of the Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición Salvador Zubirán.

Dr. Osvaldo M. Mutchinick is the head of the Department of Genetics of the Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición Salvador Zubirán. The Department has the following areas of interest:

Teaching medical genetics for undergraduate students of medicine from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, a 3-year course of Residence in Medical Genetics for postgraduate students of medicine, medical chemistry and biology to obtain the degree of Specialist in Medical Genetics, and also postgraduate students of medicine, chemistry and biology to obtain a Master and Ph.D. Degree in Medical Sciences or Bilogical Sciences.

Genetic clinics: the staff of the department is in charge of the medical genetics consults for all the different specialties of the Institute. Also once a month they examine, give genetic counseling and solve medical genetics problems at the National Institute of Cardiology.

As a pilot project the department is planning to start a community genetics program dedicated to the training and support of primary care providers like general practitioners, nurses and medical students.

In research the staff is mainly dedicated to 3 areas:
Cytogenetics of microdeletion syndromes, in particular those which have a congenital heart defect, VCF syndrome, Di George syndrome, Williams syndrome, etc.

Epidemiology of birth defects: they currently run a Registry of birth defects since 1978 in a permanent fashion. It is a multicentric hospital-based case-control study in live births and stillbirths. Hospitals of several Mexican states participate in this Registry. At present there are nearly 20,000 files of malformed babies and a similar number of controls in the data base. The Registry is a member of the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Monitoring Systems and the WAOPBD.

The Department is also working in the field of molecular epidemiology for the identification of susceptibility genes for birth defects, in particular congenital malformations like NTD, cleft lip (palate), and CHD. As well they are interested in common complex diseases, in particular cardiovascular and rheumatic diseases.

Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición
Salvador Zubirán
Department of Genetics
Prof. O. Mutchinick
Calle Vasco de Quiroga 15
DELEGACIO TLALPAN
14000 MEXICO, D.F.
Tel.: 525 573-1200
Fax.: 525 655-6138