About SBLRC

South Bay Latino Research Center (SBLRC)

Located in Chula Vista, CA in Southwest San Diego County, about 17 miles from the San Diego State University (SDSU) campus, the South Bay Latino Research Center (SBLRC) is a community-based research facility with more than 12,000 square feet of clinical research space. The mission of the SBLRC is to build the evidence base regarding social determinants, psychosocial, cultural, and environmental factors associated with chronic disease risks, and to design, implement, and evaluate culturally appropriate interventions that improve health and reduce health inequities in the Latino/Hispanic population.

The SBLRC is co-directed by Drs. Gregory A. Talavera and Linda C. Gallo. Several early-stage investigators, affiliate investigators, and numerous trainees and interns at all levels also contribute to the SBLRC. Key to the success of the SBLRC is its location in the San Diego South Bay area, where more than 70% of the population is of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, 60% of the population speaks Spanish at home, and 33% born outside of the U.S. 50 states, with 80% of these born in Latin America (https://censusreporter.org/profiles/79500US0607322-san-diego-county-south-san-diego-city-southotay-mesa-south-bay-puma-ca). In comparison, only 34% of the larger San Diego County population is of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity (https://censusreporter.org/profiles/05000US06073-san-diego-county-ca/).

The SBLRC houses the San Diego Field Center of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (Greg Talavera, San Diego Principal Investigator; Linda C. Gallo, San Diego Co-Principal Investigator)—the largest longitudinal cohort study of health among the U.S. Hispanic/Latino population—and many other observational/cohort and intervention studies conducted among Hispanics/Latinos locally and nationally.

In addition to the investigators and their trainees, the SBLRC includes a range of specially trained bilingual and bicultural staff, including research nurses, clinical coordinators, phlebotomists, research technicians, health educators, data analysts, and research support staff. In addition, the SBLRC has designated space for group-based health education, collaborative project meetings, and measurement activities. The SBLRC performs specialized procedures such as laboratory material acquisition, processing, and storage for short and long-term banking of biospecimens. In addition, the SBLRC houses other equipment used for assessments, such as subzero freezers, centrifuges, blood pressure monitors (clinic and ambulatory), physical activity monitors, sleep monitors, and equipment for measuring arterial pulse wave velocity, ankle brachial index, and cardiac rhythm (ECG). Furthermore, the SBLRC has a dedicated Information Technology Data Security Systems Administrator and a Data Analyst whose main functions are to support the center’s research, training, and administrative activities.

Finally, the SBLRC houses our “Partnership Clinic” that is a Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) recognized satellite facility of San Ysidro Health (SYH; https://www.syhc.org), a San Diego County federally qualified community health center and research partner of the SBLRC investigators. By nature of this Partnership Clinic, SYH patients can be seen at the SBLRC for clinical research purposes, with full access to electronic health records, billing, and other SYH resources.