On September 22nd and 23rd, Bozeman and Montana State University will launch the Montana Speaking Tour featuring Dr. Melissa Barber, a U.S. graduate of and Program Coordinator for the U.S. Medical Scholarship Program at the Latin American School of Medicine, based in Havana.
Her presentation, “The Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM in Spanish): Cuba’s Gift to the World,” will be held Sunday, September 22nd at 3pm, in the Bozeman Public Library Large Community Room. Dr. Barber will share her professional knowledge of Cuba’s medical education system based on universal and free health care and her personal experience as a medical student from the Bronx, New York, who in 2007 received her M.D. with Primary Care/Community Medicine specialties from ELAM, in Havana.
Following on Monday, September 23rd, Dr. Barber will screen the award-winning documentary Dare to Dream at Montana State University’s Procrastinator Theater at 5:30pm. The film details the experiences of U.S. students in the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, also discussing more about ELAM and how Cuba provides health care for the world. Earlier that day, Dr. Barber will meet with interested Native American faculty, advisors and students, health professions’ faculty and students, as well as those interested in working with health equity, public health and women’s health rights. Following her time in Bozeman, Dr. Barber will travel across the state to Montana’s Tribal Colleges and Universities to meet with students, parents, faculty and Tribal leaders from Sept. 24th–29th.
Both Bozeman events are free and open to the public, presented in English. Dr. Barber’s Montana Speaking Tour is organized by Gallatin Valley Friends of Cuba and Cuba Connections, in Helena. The Bozeman and MSU events, are co-sponsored with the support of MSU’s Department of Native American Studies and Women’s Center, among other organizations.
Gallatin Valley Friends of Cuba visited ELAM in Havana last May with a Women’s Delegation to Cuba exploring Women’s Health and Human Rights and is excited to share Cuba’s premier health programs and experiences through Dr. Barber’s visit. Further details about Dr. Barber’s itinerary and events may be found on the Gallatin Friends of Cuba official Facebook page.
The Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM in Spanish): Cuba’s Gift to the World is the story of part of Cuba’s commitment to increase global health equity in the Global South as well as underserved populations and communities in the United States. Founded in 1998 to address the severe heath devastations by Hurricane Mitch in Central America and Caribbean countries, ELAM has now expanded to 17,000 enrolled students from over 124 Nations of the world. And since 2001, upon the request of members of the U.S. Black Congressional Caucus, ELAM has included over 200 U.S. students from underserved populations with medically neglected and impoverished regions in 29 States plus Puerto Rico and Washington D.C.
Since her 2007 graduation from the Latin American School of Medicine, Dr. Barber was in charge of the medical staff in-service for all CORE Measures and Stroke patients in St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. For the past nine years, Dr. Barber has worked with IFCO/Pastors for Peace as Medical Scholarship Program Coordinator recruiting, mentoring and making medical education accessible to U.S. students who are citizens of color, Indigenous populations and from low-income backgrounds. She travels across the U.S. to help students interested in becoming Community Doctors discover the myths and realities of Cuba’s ELAM Medical Education and their health care system of universal and free public health for all that is preventative, community-based, culturally appropriate and world renowned with its low rate of maternal-infant mortality, high levels of life expectancy and family doctors who live in their communities where they serve. •
