LATIN AMERICAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Full Scholarship Program to Study Medicine in Havana, Cuba IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT ALL APPLICANTS READ THIS DOCUMENT IN FULL BEFORE CONTACTING THE IFCO OFFICE. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Applicant criteria · Be US citizens (with US passport) · Be between the ages of 18 and 25 at the time of COMPLETED APPLICATION · Must have completed the following college-level, pre-med science courses: One year of biology with lab (Biology I and II with labs) One year of chemistry with lab (General Chemistry I and II with labs) One year of organic chemistry with lab (Organic Chemistry I and II with labs) One year of physics with lab (Physics I and II with labs) · Be physically and mentally fit · Come from the humblest and neediest communities in the US · Be committed to practice medicine in poor and underserved US communities after graduation Applicants will be carefully selected by the IFCO Medical School Advisory Committee, based on applications, transcripts, interviews, letters of reference, etc. Final admissions decisions will be made by administrators of the Latin American School of Medicine and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health. Scroll down to the end of this page to download the FAQ. What’s the story of the Latin American School of Medicine? In 1998, when Hurricane Mitch devastated Nicaragua and Honduras, and Hurricane Georges lashed out at Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the Cuban government responded with a unique and generous offer. They immediately sent 2000 medical personnel to help out in the affected countries. But Cuba contributed much more than just short-term emergency relief. They pointed out that “the permanent hurricane of poverty and underdevelopment kills more people every year than these hurricanes just did...” And Cuba presented a comprehensive plan to create long-term health-care solutions for the nations of Central America and the Caribbean which are chronically poor. The idea behind the Cuban health care plan is to save as many lives every year as were lost in the hurricanes. In 1988, the infant mortality rate in Nicaragua — before Hurricane Mitch — was 10 times as high as in Cuba; in Haiti it was nearly 20 times as high. And what was causing these high rates of infant death? Babies in the poorest regions die from very simple causes: dehydration, malnutrition, diarrhea, contagious diseases: problems that could be cured with a few pills, a little food or liquid, a simple vaccine. And, as Cuban President Fidel Castro said, it really wouldn’t be so difficult to save those babies’ lives. All that would be required, he said, is the medicines, and the medical personnel to administer them, and the political will to want to help. Cuba has a highly sophisticated and world renowned health care system, and a surplus of well-trained physicians. And Cuba made a commitment to start training young people from Nicaragua, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti to be doctors — in order to create a health-care infrastructure to serve future generations in these impoverished nations. This is how the Latin American Medical School was founded: Cuba offered 500 full scholarships per year, for the next ten years, to students from the four nations affected by Hurricanes Mitch and Georges. In this way, Cuba would be training 5000 new doctors — young people who would not otherwise have had access to medical education — to serve in communities which had never had access to quality medical care. The only condition attached to the scholarship was that the students had to make a commitment to return to their home countries, where they would provide medical service in the communities where they were most needed — the poorest, the hardest-hit, the most remote communities of their home countries. The campus of a former naval academy on Cuba’s north coast, just west of Havana, was quickly refurbished for this purpose, and the Latin American School of Medicine opened officially in March 1999. The program was tremendously successful from the time it started. Other nations heard about the program and inquired about sending their own students. The program quickly grew to include students from 30 nations of Africa and the Americas, and now includes students from 124 countries. The Cuban Ministry of Public Health has been able to accommodate the growth because of the large number of trained physicians and professors in Cuba, and because of their unwavering commitment to the program. Why are students from the United States studying medicine in Cuba? The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) has been working since 1991 on a variety of projects to bring about reconciliation and normalized relations between the United States and Cuba and to challenge the immoral US economic blockade of Cuba. [See below for more information about IFCO’s work.] Since 1999, IFCO has been working with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), organizing Congressional delegations to visit Cuba.* It was during one of these delegations in May 2000 that Cuban medical school scholarships were first offered to US students. On the last night of their visit, the CBC delegation had an opportunity to meet with Cuban President Castro. In that meeting, a Congressman from the Mississippi Delta commended Cuba “for all that you have done to provide health care for the poorest people of the world.” He had visited the Latin American Medical School, and had seen Cuba’s exemplary health care system. He had heard about the services offered free of charge by Cuban doctors in Latin America and Africa. He had heard about Cuba’s free treatment of more than 16,000 young victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Ukraine. He had been to Africa and visited a brand-new hospital in the Gambia — which turned out to have been built and staffed entirely by Cubans. He went on to talk about the critical shortage of health care services in his own home district in Mississippi. President Castro responded in detail to the Congressman’s words. He indicated that he was aware of the living conditions and the lack of health care services in Mississippi, and in other so-called ‘third-world’ regions of our ‘first-world’ nation. And he extended an invitation for young people from Mississippi to study at the Latin American School of Medicine. Later in June 2000, the Cuban Minister of Public Health visited Washington, DC for a meeting of the Pan American Health Organization. In a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, he expanded the invitation, offering not just to the Mississippi Delta but to all the districts represented by the Congressional Black Caucus the opportunity to nominate students to the Latin American Medical School. Then, in September 2000, President Castro visited New York City to participate in the Millennium Summit of the United Nations. In his historic speech at the Riverside Church, he once again expanded the medical school scholarship offer — to qualified students from all regions of the United States, from low-income communities and communities of color, who would not otherwise have access to medical education. He noted that a medical education in the US can cost more than $200,000; and he said that Cuba was interested in providing medical training to qualified students who are committed to working in medically under-served communities in the US, but would not be able to do so if they graduated with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. IFCO — because of its excellent working relations with many sectors in Cuba, and with the Congressional Black Caucus, and because of its history of more than 40 years of creative community organizing for social, racial, and economic justice in communities across the US — was in a unique position to assume responsibility for administering the scholarship program for US students. The first US students entered the program in the spring of 2001. By the spring of 2010, 122 US students from 29 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington, DC are enrolled, and 33 US students have already graduated with MD degrees. New students are admitted to enter the Latin American School of Medicine each February and August. Admissions requirements are described below. What about the curriculum and course of study? The standard course of study at the Latin American School of Medicine is seven years. All classes are taught in Spanish. An additional semester of pre-med coursework is mandatory for all students. Intensive Spanish language training offered to students who need them, before the start of the six-year course of medical study. (See below for more information.) The specific course offerings for each semester are listed below. The course of study for the seven year program begins each September; the Spanish intensive course is offered in the fall semester, and the pre-med course review semester is offered in the spring semester. All students spend their first two years of study on the campus of the Latin American School of Medicine, along with the other international students. During these first two years, the curriculum focuses on the basic medical sciences, and includes some practicum opportunities in neighborhood clinics. The first year of study follows an innovative plan called “morphophysiology,” which integrates the various basic sciences to enhance learning. From the beginning of the third year until the end of the sixth year of medical study, students are located at one of Cuba’s 21 teaching hospitals, with Cuban and international students. (The US students are located in the City of Havana.) In these advanced years of study, supervised clinical practicum work on the hospital wards is incorporated with classroom and laboratory studies. The sixth year of medical study is the internship year, in which students complete rotations in internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, surgery, and general medicine. In terms of subject matter, the Cuban medical curriculum corresponds very closely with how medicine is taught in the US. The teaching style, however, is different: the Cuban schools emphasize cooperative rather than competitive learning, smaller class sizes, frequent oral exams, and intensive tutoring to help all students succeed. What about the pre-med and Spanish classes? Placement tests are administered to all incoming students to determine proficiency in the medical sciences and in Spanish. THE OFFICIALS AT THE LATIN AMERICAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE WILL THEN DETERMINE YOUR PLACEMENT. How good does my Spanish have to be? The Latin American School of Medicine offers a semester of intensive Spanish language training to students who come to the program with little or no Spanish. The Spanish intensive is offered in the fall semester. Pre-med students who have some Spanish proficiency can also receive Spanish classes while they are taking their pre-med courses. Keep in mind that Spanish language “mastery” involves more than just casual conversational skills: students need to be sufficiently fluent in medical Spanish that they can ask questions -- in Spanish -- and understand the answers, in a biochemistry class. Does the Latin American School of Medicine accept transfer students or offer advanced placement? In rare cases, admitted students who have completed one or more semesters of medical school training prior to their enrollment at the Latin American School of Medicine may be considered for advanced standing. Evaluations are done on a case-by-case basis, and involve detailed analysis of the students’ prior coursework by the faculty of the Latin American School of Medicine. PLEASE NOTE THAT CANDIDATES MUST STILL BE BETWEEN 18 AND 25. THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS. How is the academic calendar organized? ifconews.org/node/352
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 18:11:52 +0000
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