Mayra Álvarez Corredera MS
Clinical pharmacist. Associate professor, Medical University of Havana. Ms Álvarez is also methodologist in the Cuban Ministry of Public Health’s Science and Technical Division. She leads training workshops on topics in pharmacology, pharmacological methods, research methods, and information management. Her recent research includes a study on promoting evidence-based research and medical practice in Cuba, and she is currently conducting research on individualized therapy and metabolism-modifying factors of the principal drugs used to manage severe depression and hepatitis C in Cuban patients.

Miguel Coyula MArch
Architect and urban planner with the Group for the Comprehensive Development of Havana (GDIC, its Spanish acronym) and the University of Havana’s School of Architecture. Since 1988, he has been an advisor to the Havana government on strategic urban planning, housing, and community development through GDIC-sponsored Comprehensive Neighborhood Transformation Workshops. Mr Coyula is an advisor to the Cuban Center for Energy Management and Development, a founding member of the Cuban Union of Architects, and member of the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists and its Commission on Culture, Architecture, and the City.

Ricardo González Menéndez MD PhD DrSc
Psychiatrist. Consulting professor at the Enrique Cabrera Medical School of the Medical University of Havana and consultant to the teaching service at the Rogelio Paredes Psychiatric Hospital in Havana. Dr González is a member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the Cuban Psychiatric Society. He is also president of the National Medical Ethics Commission and the Academic Committee for Training in Alcoholism and other Drug Addictions. Author of more than 25 books on psychiatry, medical ethics and addiction, he is currently conducting research on comprehensive characterization of patients hospitalized for marijuana and cocaine dependency.

Raúl Herrera Valdés MD PhD DrSc
Nephrologist. Dr Herrera is full professor and distinguished researcher at the Medical University of Havana. He is the lead investigator for the Isle of Youth Study (ISYS) on chronic kidney disease and associated chronic vascular diseases and risk factors. Dr Herrera directed the national Institute of Nephrology from 1988 through 2006. He is a member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the Scientific Research Committee of the International Society of Nephrology’s Commission for the Global Advancement of Nephrology (COMGAN).

Calixto Machado Curbelo MD PhD DrSc
Neurologist. Senior professor and researcher in neurology and clinical neurophysiology, Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Havana. Dr Machado chairs the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology and heads the Neurophysiological Laboratory for Cerebrovascular Diseases and Intensive Care Unit at the Institute. He is president of the Cuban Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, chair of the Network on Defining Death of the International Bioethics Association, and chair of the Cuban Commission for Brain Death Diagnosis. He is the author of numerous articles on neurology and determination of brain death, and six time recipient of the annual Award for Best Medical Scientific Research in Cuba.