There is growing interest in global health across campus at the University of Florida. One sign of that interest is the inaugural Seminars in Global Health, which was funded by a grant from the International Center this fall. Unfortunately, the fall series has already wrapped up, but hopefully it is the start of more cross-disciplinary teaching and collaboration on global health.

Another step in that direction is a new proposed graduate course on Health in Latin America and the Caribbean, offered by the Center for Latin American Studies and the Health Sciences Center. The initiative is being led by Dr. Jorge Hernandez, Professor of Epidemiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Coordinator of the Seminars in Global Health. Details for the course haven’t been worked out yet, but the current proposal is to organize the course around an interdisciplinary journal club and the Bacardi Lecture Series, sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies. There would be five instructors from across campus, including me. We are currently planning the course for Fall 2009. Stay tuned for details.