Dra. María Georgina Cárdenas López

The Antonio Caso National Preparatory School, campus Number 6, was my gateway to the young universe full of proposals that UNAM represents, where since 1967 I began my journey through this house of studies, in which I continue to enrich myself from its world, his life and his knowledge.

Along the way I came across Psychology, a science that marked my undergraduate studies and where I began my academic career as a research assistant in 1973 at the Open University System of the Faculty of Psychology, alongside my colleague and friend. Roberto Alvarado Tenorio.

The beginning of research work was tutored during my master's studies in higher education and doctorate in Health Psychology, by Dr. Héctor Ayala Velázquez, initiator in the behavioral analysis approach applied to psychological problems with social relevance, my inclusion in His research group allowed me to participate in systematic interventions with the autistic population, hospitalized psychiatric patients, as well as with new treatment approaches in the field of addictions, which strengthened my interest to continue in this branch of research applied to mental health.

It is at this point in my training as an academic and researcher that UNAM once again encourages me and provides the guidance, as well as the institutional resources to carry out training and research sabbaticals at the University of Colorado (1998), Stanford University (2005), Universitat Jaume I (2008), Université du Quebec (2013) and at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (2019), during these stays academic exchange and collaborative research development agreements were established between each educational institution and UNAM.

The opportunity to discuss with my colleagues the empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the incorporation of technology into treatments in therapeutic programs to influence mental health and well-being, motivated me to found in 2001 the pioneering Virtual Teaching and Cyberpsychology Laboratory (LEVYC) in this field both in Mexico and in Latin America, where, since then and until today, students of Psychology and Neuroscience continue to be trained. The laboratory, with the support of UNAM resources such as PAPIIT and PAPIME, CONACyT and the Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation, has developed research projects that generate intervention programs to be delivered to the university community and society.

Since its inception, the laboratory has been characterized by carrying out the fundamental principles of the university such as teaching, research and outreach to the community, disseminating the results achieved to address problems of social relevance in. the field of mental health. Regarding university education and professional training, online courses and diplomas have been developed for the management and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders, digital simulators for teaching clinical skills and abilities, as well as multimedia tutorials for detection and intervention in anxiety disorders and domestic violence, which, in turn, have been topics addressed by undergraduate, master and doctoral students who have completed their thesis work.

The research work carried out by the laboratory has made it possible to deliver to the university population and the community in general, various therapeutic programs based on scientific evidence to attend to different psychosocial problems of great relevance in the Mexican population, where specialized programs for migrants abroad stand out. via the Internet, trauma care in victims of violence, management of adaptive disorders derived from daily life stressors, prevention and management of obesity, among others, the results of which have been published in more of 58 scientific articles in indexed journals. In the area of ​​community outreach, the laboratory has developed free access internet platforms for the prevention of addictions in the university population, the promotion of prevention strategies for children, teachers and parents in childhood obesity and the teaching of prosocial behaviors aimed at children and adolescents with the purpose of promoting coping strategies to improve family and social coexistence.

It should be noted that, given the positive results found in the laboratory and the need to have ongoing evidence-based programs for the general population, we had the opportunity to receive an invitation from InnovaUNAM to participate in the call for incubated companies, same as It was awarded to the group in 2013. This is how the Virtual Health Solutions clinic emerged, a company specializing in technology-mediated psychological treatments.

For me the UNAM, a universe of vi.