The University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Universidad Autónoma de Campeche and INDESALUD (the Instituto de Servicios Descentralizados de Salud Publica del Estado de Campeche), to foster collaboration on education, training, clinical, and research initiatives, and to encourage the exchange of their respective faculty members and students.
UM President Julio Frenk signed the agreement last Friday, September 2, at the Newman Alumni Center with Dr. Álvaro Emilio Arceo Ortiz, secretary of health and general director of INDESALUD Campeche, and Gerardo Montero Pérez, provost of the Universidad Autónoma de Campeche. UM Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas J. LeBlanc welcomed the delegation to the Coral Gables campus.
“UM believes that we become stronger through strategic alliances, and thanks to the memorandum of understanding that we are formalizing today our joint forces will be greater than the sum of our individual efforts,” LeBlanc said.
President Frenk said that the cooperation agreement with Campeche, a state in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, is aligned with the University of Miami’s aspiration to be the hemispheric university, an aspiration that would take full advantage of the University’s location at the gateway to the Americas.
“This is a great opportunity to develop a platform for both innovation and education, and from there to the entire hemisphere,” Frenk said. “So today we are taking a first step in new ways of collaboration to advance science, educational human resources and different ways to apply results in health care and other areas.”
Secretary Arceo, speaking on behalf of the Governor of Campeche, Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas, said that health issues are a priority in Campeche, thanks in large measure to President Frenk’s leadership as minister of health in Mexico from 2000 to 2006. Just hours before the signing, the Mexican government recognized the state of Campeche as one of the nation’s public health leaders, Arceo said.
“This memorandum reflects that our human resources will be addressed in a strategic manner, and it will respond to the people of Campeche’s main requirement: social protection in health,” Arceo said.
The delegation from Campeche also visited the medical campus, where members met with Steven M. Altschuler, senior vice president for health affairs and CEO of UHealth – University of Miami Health System, and Thinh H. Tran, chief clinical officer and chief operating officer of UHealth. During that meeting, they discussed sharing expertise in health care education, with a focus on public health and how it can assist the economy of Campeche.
The delegation also met with representatives from the Miller School’s International Medicine Institute, led by Eduardo J. DeMarchena, associate dean for international medicine. There is a longstanding relationship between the Miller School and the Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, whereby medical students and physicians have come to Miami for training. Friday’s discussion centered on expanding the program to include clinical research and continuing education programs.
