Clarence C. Gravlee

The theme of this year’s Bacardi Family Lecture Series, sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies at UF, is “Health and Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean.” As part of this series, five distinguished scholars and public health officials will visit campus this semester to deliver public lectures about strategies for meeting the most pressing public health challenges in the region:

September 14 – Arachu Castro, PhD, MPH; Harvard Medical School

Responding to Public Health Priorities in Latin America and the Caribbean: From Academic Research to Policy Setting to Clinical Practice

September 28 – Álvaro Quijano, MD; Yucatán Department of Health

Human Influenza H1N1 (Swine Flu) in Yucatán, Mexico

October 12 – Carles Muntaner, PhD, MD; University of Toronto

Misión Bario Adentro (Inside the Neighborhood): The Concept of Health as a Human Right—Venezuela

October 12 – Maria Eugenia Morales, PhD; Universidad del Valle de Guatemala

Mosquito-Borne Diseases and Public Health Challenges in Guatemala

November 9 – James A. Trostle, PhD, MPH; Trinity College

The Road to Better Health? Economic Development and Infectious Disease in Ecuador

Graduate students at UF have a unique opportunity to interact with the Bacardi lecturers and to deepen their understanding of global health by participating in a special graduate course. The course is linked to the lecture series and will include journal club sessions and special seminar presentations by the visiting Bacardi lecturers. It also aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration. The five co-instructors, including me, represent the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Public Health and Health Professions, and Veterinary Medicine. We hope to attract students from across these colleges as well. (Separate course numbers are available in anthropology, Latin American Studies, veterinary medicine, and public health).

Stay tuned for updates about the graduate course and lecture series as the semester moves on.