Rafael Fernández de Castro is a professor and director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies (USMEX) at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego. A former foreign policy advisor to President Felipe Calderón, he is an expert on U.S.-Mexico bilateral relations. He is also a community leader, having received the Distinguished Mexican Award from the Institute of Mexicans Abroad in 2024, the UC San Diego Chancellor's Excellence in Stewardship Award, and the Tourism Merit Award of Tijuana in 2025.

He is a recognized scholar with deep expertise in Mexico–U.S. relations and founder and former director of the Department of International Studies at ITAM. A prolific researcher, he is the author of several influential books and numerous academic articles on U.S.–Latin America relations and Mexico’s foreign policy. In 2025, he published a series of public policy recommendations in the Harvard Review of Latin America and received a grant to study skilled migration from Mexico to the United States.