Enrique Beldarraín Chaple MD PhD
Epidemiologist. Dr Beldarraín is a full professor at the Medical University of Havana and senior researcher and research director, Cuban National Health Care Telecommunications Network and Portal (INFOMED) in Havana. His studies and publications on a range of topics in communicable and non-communicable disease control, as well as history of Cuban public health and medicine, have earned him a number of national science awards.
Jeddú Cruz Hernández MD MS
Physician with dual specialties in family medicine and endocrinology, with master’s degrees in comprehensive women’s health and atherosclerosis research. Dr Cruz is an associate professor at the Medical University of Havana. His work as adjunct researcher at the National Endocrinology Institute focuses on endocrine diseases and pregnancy, for which he received the National Health Award in 2009.
Mayra A. Garí Calzada MD
Physician. Now an associate professor in the Human Biology Department at Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha, South Africa, where she has been on faculty since 1997, Dr Garí has also taught health sciences students in Cuba and Ethiopia. Her research concerns active methods of learning, enriching both her activities with students and faculty staff development in education.
Jehu E. Iputo MBChB PhD
Physiologist and educator. Dr Iputo is professor of medical education and head of the Department of Medical Education at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in Mthatha, South Africa. He has been director of WSU’s School of Medicine, where he has taught for over 28 years. Earlier, he was professor of physiology and chair of the Department of Physiology and Medical Biochemistry at WSU. Dr Iputo studied medicine at Makerere University in Uganda and physiology at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. He has played a pivotal role in establishing the problem- and community-based medical training program at WSU, and has published widely on topics in medical education.
Rafael Llanes Caballero MD
Microbiologist. Dr Llanes heads the Bacteriology and Mycology Department at the Pedro Kourí Tropical Medicine Institute, where he is a full professor and senior researcher. He was a member of the Cuban Medical Team in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. His current areas of research are H. pylori, pathogenic neisseria, and cholera.
Jorge Peña Díaz MS PhD
Architect. Dr Peña is full professor in the Faculty of Architecture at Havana’s José Antonio Echeverría Polytechnical University, where he teaches courses on urban design and leads the Urban Research and Action Group. His research in Cuba and abroad employs a transdisciplinary approach to contemporary urban issues.
Carlos R. Pérez Diaz MD MS
Dual specialist in family and internal medicine. Dr Pérez heads the Ministry of Public Health’s National Medical Emergency Center. He has applied his expertise in emergency medicine in settings as diverse as Chile, Cuba and Djibouti, most recently as head of Cuba’s Henry Reeve Emergency Medical Contingent that provided assistance in response to severe flooding in Atacama, Chile in March 2015. He also headed the Contingent that responded to the 2010 earthquake in Chile, based in Rancagua.
Pedro L. Véliz Martínez MD MS
Dual specialist in internal medicine and intensive care and emergency medicine. Dr Véliz is director of the National Council of Scientific Societies in Health. His research focuses on human resource capacity building in the specialty of intensive care and emergency medicine.
