A couple of times a year graduate students and faculty at the University of Miami’s School of Nursing and Health Studies visit the Central Plateau of Haiti to provide primary care to hundreds of people who rarely, if ever, get to see a doctor.

Architects at the UM School of Architecture have spent hours discussing and designing new town centers with Haitian community leaders and townsfolk.

And anthropologists and professors at the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Education and Human Development are working to improve living conditions and stem the tide of poverty and violence that rage through some of Haiti’s poorest neighborhoods.

Louis Herns Marcelin, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, in 2007 founded Haiti’s Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development, or INURED, which is working to groom new leaders to address the pressing social issues and guide public policy in Haiti.

“If we invest in three elements – leadership, education and research – we will develop a new type of people who can take charge of the country,” says Marcelin. “ It’s much more than just giving a hand to Haiti. It is about investing in Haitians and about Haitians believing in themselves.”