What's New at MEDICC

Summertime Brings Record Number of Students

By Gail Reed

HAVANA—MEDICC's summer enrollment jumped to 50 students in July, nearly double last summer's groups. They are here for three electives: the Medical Students Summer Elective (for first-year med students), the Health Sciences Elective on the Cuban Public Health System (priority given to MPH candidates) and the Reproductive Health Elective (for all health sciences students).

Most students will spend some time in Havana and another share of their elective in the westernmost province of Pinar del Río, to take a look at community health care there.

In Pinar del Río province, a family nurse at her desk, and an office mural for patients on safe sex,
no-smoking and mental health.

New Vice Minister of Public Health Announced

Congratulatons are in order for Dr. Yamila de Armas, new Vice Minister of Public Health for Education and Research. In this role, she overseees training at Cuba's public health and medical schools across the country.

Dr. de Armas was director of Public Health in the central province of Cienfuegos prior to her appointment. Noteworthy is the fact that she is the first woman and first family doctor to be appointed Vice Minister of Public Health, and at 35, she is the youngest of all Cuban deputy ministers. She is expected to play a central role in MEDICC.

Dr. José B. Jardines, her predecessor and MEDICC Co-chair, has been named head of the Virtual University of Medicine, a nationwide program integrating telemedicine, tele-education and tele-epidemiological surveillance, as Cuba's health system moves into the new millennium.

Gender Conference Coming Up.....Don't Miss It!

MEDICC is one of the co-sponsors of the First International Symposium in Cuba on Gender and Health, with the main theme of A Gender Perspective: Vital for Human Development.

The event is scheduled for October 25-28, 2000 in Santiago de Cuba, and is organized by the Cuban Society of Family Medicine. Other sponsors include the Pan American Health Organization and the American College of Women's Health Physicians.

Physician, mother and her newborn at the Ramón González Coro Maternity Hospital, Havana.)

Note that MEDICC is offering a Student Diploma Program, in which students will be eligible for academic credit. For more on the program and special student rates, write: medic@infomed.sld.cu. For more on the conference itself, turn to Meetings

MEDICC Sponsors ASPH Visit to Cuba

Mike Gemmell, Executive Director of the Association of Schools of Public Health, traveled to Cuba in June, invited by MEDICC. Here in Havana, he visited community polyclinics and family doctor-and-nurse offices, the medical school of Pinar del Río province, INFOMED (the public health Internet and Virtual University provider), and a number of other institutions central to Cuba's public health system.

Mike Gemmell and faculty member, Latin American School of Medicine, Havana.

Mike Gemmell, Elane Gemmell and Wendy Katz in the foreground. Central American medical students studying for exams in the background.

In particular, he met students and faculty at the Latin American Medical School, where some 3,000 students from Central America, the Caribbean, South America and Africa are currently enrolled under full scholarship. Total enrollment is expected to reach 8,000. Recently members of the Congressional Black Caucus asked Cuba for 15 scholarships for African American students from the rural South.

Finally, Mr. Gemmell met with Dr. Yamila de Armas, newly appointed Vice Minister of Public Health for Education and Research. He was accompanied by Consultant Elane Gemmell and Executive Staff member Wendy Katz.

New Members of MEDICC's
Advisory Board

We are pleased to welcome two new members to the MEDICC Advisory Board. Susan C. Scrimshaw, PhD, is the Dean of the University of Illinois School of Public Health and brings to us the insight of a medical anthropologist, as well as considerable experience in Latin America. David B. Pruitt, MD is Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Medical Director at its Center for Infant Studies. He is the immediate past President of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

For a complete list of the MEDICC Advisory Board, see Who's Who at MEDICC

Columbia faculty advisor Moira Walter and student Tamiru Mammo in Havana.

MEDICC Staffer Omar Zapata and Columbia student Joy Williams at the farewell party for the group at the National Center for Post-Graduate Medical Training, Havana.

Columbia University School of Public Health takes a MEDICC
Trip to Cuba

A dozen students from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University came to Cuba in May and June, under a new option introduced by MEDICC this spring. We are now offering individual schools a two to four-week course for their students in Cuba, designed to fit their particular curriculum requirements. Professors are welcome.

In the case of Columbia, the students carried out a program of familiarization with the Cuban public health system, with emphasis on women's health, community-based care, adolescent health needs, and traditional and natural medicine as practiced in Cuba. If you or your school is interested in this option, please contact Program Director Diana Garcia at dgarcia@medicc.org.