Campeche
and UM Join Hands to
Improve Public Health
The agreement establishes collaboration in training,
clinical and research initiatives.
The University of Miami’s Miller
School of Medicine 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 in
September 2016 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,” said Frenk. “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.”
About the Photo
From left to right: Gerardo Montero Pérez, provost of the
Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Dr. Álvaro Emilio
Arceo Ortiz, secretary of health and general director of
INDESALUD Campeche, University of Miami President Julio
Frenk, and Thomas J. LeBlanc, UM executive vice
president and provost.
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,” said Arceo.
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 de Marchena, 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.
