Congratulations to ELAM’s Graduating class of 2009!

July 15, Havana--All seventeen members of the 2009 class of US medical students studying at the Latin American Medical School (ELAM) have successfully passed their Cuban state licensing exam and are poised to graduate as fully accredited MDs in Havana, Cuba next week.  MEDICC congratulates these bright and socially committed young doctors and looks forward to following their careers providing needed care to underserved communities in the US. 

Although these graduates have completed six years of medical training in Cuba, many still face significant hurdles on the road to full accreditation and practice in the US.  MEDICC is helping overcome these challenges through the Mnisi Fellowship, which helps defray the cost of US licensing exams and preparatory courses, and the Mentorship Program which pairs students and graduates of ELAM with mentor physicians in the US.  MEDICC also provides support to South African and Haitian students as well as providing a backpack library to 1,500 graduates each year.

The US graduates were among 4.700 new Cuban and international MDs who received their degrees from Cuban medical schools this July, the largest graduation in Cuba’s history.  These included international graduates from 52 countries (1,429 enrolled in the Latin American Medical School and 263 in other international medical programs).

Another 25,000 students, mainly Cuban, received their university degrees from Cuba’s health sciences schools in the fields of dentistry, clinical psychology, nursing and allied health professions.