Ecuador

Fundación Cimas del Ecuador

Fundación Cimas del Ecuador (CIMAS) is an Ecuadorian nonprofit organization, with a mission to facilitate human development, aimed at promoting social equity. CIMAS supports environmental, social, cultural, and health research, with focus on health with an intercultural, gender, and generational-based perspective. CIMAS has offered academic, research activities, field observations and internships, providing training for U.S. institutions since 1990, with collaborations with the University of California San Diego since 2013. CIMAS has provided training to over 800 students since its inception in 1990.

For 30 years, CIMAS has participated in community-based action/research and interventions with the rural parish governments in Pedro Moncayo County, Pichincha province, Ecuador. To support this work, CIMAS implemented a local geo-referenced community information system in 2004, which includes social, behavioral, cultural, economic, reproductive, housing and agricultural information on more than 12,000 individuals.

Since 2008, UCSD has collaborated with CIMAS on the NIH-funded study of secondary exposures to pesticides among children and adolescents’ study (ESPINA). ESPINA is a prospective cohort study (next follow-up planned for 2022) aimed at assessing the associations of exposures to pesticides with the development of children living in agricultural settings (Pedro Moncayo County). Currently, CIMAS collaborates on four active NIH-funded studies covering a range of health assessments including neurobehavior, mental health, endocrine, inflammation, hemodynamic, respiratory, enzymatic, and metabolomic assessments.

CIMAS is located in the North Eastern part of Quito, and includes administrative offices, research areas, an auditorium, 15 classrooms and seminar areas, a library, computer lab, kitchen and dining areas, and recreational areas.

Site contact: Dr. José Suárez