From 1980 to 1989, Dr. Cravioto was appointed Head of the Research Department, and later Deputy Director of the National Institute of Health and Technology for Child Health, before being named as the Director of the Division of Microbiology of the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico. In 1991, he was appointed Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, and from 1995 to 2003 Dean of the same school. During his term in office, the school was named a WHO/PAHO Collaborative Center for Human Resources in Health. His research has focused on the interaction between infection and growth in young infants, as well as the pathogenic capacity of bacteria to cause disease in humans.