Who We Are

Sofía Sánchez-Román, Clinical Psychologist, utilizes psychological theory and research strategies to help patients cope with chronic disease and avoid complications by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Currently, she works as the head of the Psychology Department at Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, a National Health Institute, and the leading research institution in Mexico. For the last 20 years, she has dedicated her work to the psychological assessment and treatment of people with chronic diseases and their caregivers. Recently, her work has been focused on patients with cancer, particularly those undergoing palliative care. Additionally, she is the supervisor of the Behavioral Medicine training program of the Psychology Department of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). In this role, Sofía trains psychology students to attain advanced clinical skills by presenting a variety of multidisciplinary behavioral medicine cases. Furthermore, Sofía has experience designing research studies, as she also mentors research students developing programs or interventions designed to meet the specific demands of the various hospital clinics.

Dr. Andrés Hernández Ortiz, MD, is an anesthesiologist specialized in Pain Medicine and Palliative Care. He completed his postgraduate residency in Anesthesiology at Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán and Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His academic training and specialties include Ericksonian Psychotherapy and Hypnosis, Psychoanalytical Theory and Technique, and Psychoanalysis. Andrés is the head of the Pain Medicine and Palliative Care Department at Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, a professor of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, and a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City.

Paulina Quiroz-Friedman, Clinical Psychologist, pursued a Bachelor and Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology in Mexico City and has completed several trainings related to the clinical field. She currently works at the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry at Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán (INCMNSZ) and Médica Sur Hospital. She has published research on the topic of oncology and patients in palliative care. She collaboratively authored The Handbook of Psychosocial Intervention for the Patient with Advanced Illness and Their Caregiver, developed by the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán (INCMNSZ). Paulina’s work focuses mainly on patients with chronic disease as part of an interdisciplinary hospital team including Oncology, Pain and Palliative Care, Genetics, and Psychiatry. In addition, she leads two educational seminars, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as well as Introduction to Psychoanalysis, held at the same hospital.

Dr. José Miguel Rodríguez, MD, is an anesthesiologist specialized in Pain Medicine and Palliative Care. He received his training from the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición, Salvador Zubirán, in Mexico City. Currently, he is an anesthesiologist in the department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine at the Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación in México City, where he offers Pain Reprocessing Therapy to patients with chronic primary pain syndromes.