The William J. Harrington Medical Training Programs for Latin America and the Caribbean Celebrate 40th Anniversary

11/21/2007

The William J. Harrington Medical Training Programs celebrated its 40th anniversary this past weekend with a celebratory dinner on Friday and a mini-conference on Saturday. Since its inception, thousands of physicians and medical students from Latin America and the Caribbean have participated in the rigorous programs, which include 12 positions in the UM/Jackson internal medicine residency program, rotation opportunities for medical students to observe in several different clinical departments and continuing education for physicians already practicing in their home country.

In an interview with The Miami Herald on Saturday, Daniel Tabak, M.D., a Brazilian hematologist who headed the bone marrow transplant unit at the National Cancer Institute of Brazil for almost 20 years, said, "The most important step I took in my entire career was coming to this program. The whole idea of the program is for people to get the best possible training, and go back to practice in their home country."

The training programs are designed to enrich the medical experience for participants in several ways, including introducing them to new technologies and helping them develop administrative and leadership skills that they can bring back to their communities.

"We've never really paused to take stock of our achievements," said J. Donald Temple, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the Miller School and program director of The William J. Harrington Medical Training Programs. "Were quite proud of what weve accomplished. We've used a simple formula to produce physicians who will stay in academic medicine and return to their home countries as leaders in their medical communities."