2007 –Ph.D in International Health, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
2001 – Master in Sciences, Health Economics, National Institute of Public Health (INSP), Mexico.
1993 – Bachelor in Economics (Honors), National Autonomous University, Mexico.
Academic appointments:
Researcher in Medical Sciences E, Directorate of Health Economics of the Center for Research in Health Systems, INSP.
National System of Researchers, Level II.
Researcher affiliated with CISIDAT.
Research interests:
Nutrition economics: how the food environment (prices, affordability, availability) has contributed to the obesity epidemic in less developed countries.
Design and impact evaluation of structural strategies to prevent and reduce obesity such as fiscal policies (taxes on alcohol, sugar-sweetened beverages, and nonessential energy-dense foods) and front-of-pack labeling.
Feasibility of implementing subsidies for healthier foods and taxes on less healthy ones.
Analysis of the Mexican health system.
Studies on technical efficiency in the provision of health services and associated factors.
Featured projects:
Impact of taxes and subsidies on the nutritional quality of purchases in an online experimental supermarket. Sabbatical project 2025–2026. Host institution: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Equipe de Recherche en Épidémiologie Nutritionnelle (EREN), Centre de Recherche en Épidémiologie et Statistiques (CRESS).
Analysis of Health Tax Alternatives for Unhealthy Consumption Products in Mexico. Funded by the World Bank. 2023–2025. Principal Investigator.
Fiscal strategies to fight obesity and diabetes in Mexico. Bloomberg Philanthropies. 2012–2025. Co-Investigator.
Evaluating the impact of SSB and nonessential food taxes in Mexico. National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2016–2020. Co-Investigator.
Evaluation of the effectiveness and technical efficiency in the production of services for patients with diabetes in Mexico: a pilot study. CONACYT. 2014–2017. Principal Investigator.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
García-Chávez CG, Barrientos-Gutierrez T, Ng Shuwen, Rivera JA, Colchero MA. Changes in sugar-sweetened beverages and non-essential energy-dense food purchases overall and by type before and after the implementation of taxes in Mexico: repeated cross-sectional national surveys (2008–2018). BMJ Public Health. 2025. 3(1).
Morales-Ríos J. Unar-Munguía M. Batis C. Quiroz-Reyes A. Sánchez-Ortiz NA. Colchero MA. Simulating tax subsidies on healthy foods in Mexico. Public Health Nutrition. 2025. 28:374.
Sánchez-Ortiz NA, Colchero MA. Changes in food and beverage purchases associated with the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic in Mexico. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2024 2:S2212-2672(23).
Martha Carnalla, Dalia Stern, M. Arantxa Colchero, Karla Rangel-Moreno, Ana Basto-Abreu, Celia M. Alpuche-Aranda, Sergio Bautista-Arredondo, Tonatiuh Barrientos-Gutiérrez. Who is getting COVID-19 boosters? A latent class analysis in a nationally representative sample of Mexican adults 60 years and over. Vaccine, 42. 2024.
Salgado Hernández JC, Basto-Abreu A, Junquera-Badilla I, Moreno-Aguilar LA, Barrientos-Gutiérrez T, Colchero MA. Building upon the sugar beverage tax in Mexico: a modelling study of tax alternatives to increase benefits. BMJ Global Health. 2023. 8:012227.
Bautista-Arredondo S, Vargas-Flores A, Moreno-Aguilar LA, Colchero MA. Utilización de servicios de salud en México: cascada de atención primaria en 2022. Salud Pública de México. 2023. 65(Sup 1).
Mullacgery PH, Quistberg DA, Lazo M. Indvik K, Perez-Ferrer C, López-Olmedo N, Colchero MA, Bilal U. Evaluation of the national sobriety checkpoints program in Mexico: a difference-in-difference approach with variation in timing of program adoption. Injury Epidemiology. 2022. 9:32.
Colchero MA. Gómez R. Baustista-Arredondo S. A systematic review of the literature on the impact of the Seguro Popular. 2022. Health Research Policy and Systems. 20:42.
Colchero MA, Moreno-Aguilar LA. Bautista-Arredondo S. The Covid-19 cascade of care in Mexico: symptoms, positivity, and health care seeking decisions amid the pandemic. Salud Pública de México, vol 63, 6. 2021.
Paraje G. Colchero A. Wlasiuk JM. Martner Stota A. Popkin B. The effects of the Chilean food policy package on aggregate employment and real wages. Health Affairs (100). 2021.
Hernández -F. Figueroa JL. Colchero MA. Association between density of stores and purchases of ultra-processed food and sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico. Health and Place. 68. 2021.
Smith-Taillie L. Bercholz M. Popkin B. Reyes M. Colchero MA. Corvalán C. Changes in food purchases after the Chilean policies on food labelling, marketing, and sales in schools: a before and after study. Lancet Planetary Health. Vol 5. 2021.
Colchero MA. Guerrero-López CM. Barrientos-Gutiérrez T. Salmerón J. Bautista-Arredondo S. Willingness to pay for an intervention that reduces soda consumption among a sample of middle-class adult Mexicans. PLoS One. 16(8). 2021.
Hernández-F M. Cantoral A. Colchero MA. Taxes to Unhealthy Food and Beverages and Oral Health in Mexico: An Observational Study. Caries Research. 55. 2021.
Moreno-Aguilar LA. Guerrero-López CM. Colchero MA. Quezada-Sánchez AD. Bautista-Arredondo S. Elasticidad precio y elasticidad ingreso de la demanda de cerveza en México. Salud Pública de México. 63. 2021.
Colchero MA, Gómez R. Pineda-Anuñez CJ. Bautista-Arredondo S. Health care utilization during the Covid-19 pandemic in Mexico: the cascade of care. Salud Pública de México, vol 63, 6. 2021.
Colchero MA. Guerrero-López CM, Quiroz-Reyes JA, Bautista-Arredondo S. Did “Conduce Sin Alcohol” a Program that Monitors Breath Alcohol Concentration Limits for Driving in Mexico City Have an Effect on Traffic-Related Deaths? 2020. Prev Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01133-3.
Smith Taillie L, Reyes M, Colchero MA, Popkin B, Corvalán C. An evaluation of Chile´s law of food labeling and advertising on sugar-sweetened beverage purchases from 2015 to 2017: a before and after study. 2020. PLoS Medicine. 17(2).
Sánchez-Romero LM, Canto-Osorio F. Gozález-Morales R. Colchero MA, Ng S, Ramirez-Palacios P, Salmerón J. Barrientos-Gutiérrez T. Association between tax on sugar sweetened beverages and soft drink consumption in adults in Mexico: open cohort longitudinal analysis of Health Workers Cohort Study. 2020. BMJ. 369: m1311.
Colchero MA. Gómez R. Figueroa JL. Rodriguez-Atristain A. Baustita-Arredondo S. Aumento en la oferta de consultorios adyacentes a farmacias y atención en servicios públicos en México entre 2012 y 2018. 2020. Salud Pública de México: 62: 851-858.
Colchero MA, Gómez R, Bautista-Arredondo S. Caracterización de la cascada de atención en servicios públicos en México en localidades de menos de 100 000 habitantes. 2019. Salud Pública de México. 61(6).
Unar-Munguía M. Monterrubio F, E. Colchero MA. Apparent consumption of caloric sweeteners increased after the implementation of NAFTA in Mexico. 2019. Food Policy. 84. 103-110.
Colchero MA, Guerrero-López CM, Molina M, Unar-Munguía M. Affordability of food and beverages in Mexico between 1994 and 2016. 2019. Nutrients. 11(1).
Hernández-F, M. Batis C, Rivera JA, Colchero MA. Reduction in purchases of energy-dense nutrient poor foods in Mexico associated with the introduction of a tax in 2014. Prev Med. 2019. 118: 16-22.
Ng SW, Rivera JA, Popkin BM, Colchero MA. Did high sugar-sweetened beverage purchasers respond differently to the excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico? Public Health Nutrition. 2018.
Colchero MA, Rivera J, Popkin B, Ng S. In Mexico, Evidence of Sustained Consumer Response Two Years After Implementing A Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax. 2017. Health Affairs. 36(3).
Colchero MA, Bautista-Arredondo S. Cortés-Ortiz MA, Romero-Martinez M, Salas J. Sosa-Rubí SG. Uribe P. Impact and economic evaluations of a combination prevention program for MSM in Mexico: a quasi-experiment in 24 cities. 2016. AIDS. 30(2).
Colchero M.A, Contreras-Loya D, López-Gatell H, González de Cosío T. The costs of inadequate breastfeeding for infants in Mexico. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2015. 101(3).
Colchero MA, Cortes-Ortiz MA, Romero-Martínez M, Vega H., González A. Román R., Franco-Nuñez A, Bautista-Arredondo S. HIV prevalence, sociodemographic characteristics and sexual behaviors among transwomen in Mexico City. 2015. Salud Pública de México. Vol 57. Supplement 2.
Colchero MA, Unar M, Salgado, Hernández-Ávila M, Rivera Dommarco JA. Price elasticity of the demand for sugar sweetened beverages and soft drinks in Mexico. 2015. Economics and Human Biology. 19.
Colchero MA, Caballero B., Bishai D., The effect of income and occupation on body mass index among women in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Surveys. Soc Sci Med. 2008. 66(9).
