July 29, 2018—For the third year, MEDICC Review and PAHO sponsored the Scientific Writing Course for Cuban health and related professionals. Cuba’s National School of Public Health, co-organizer, offered the venue and academic credit. Over 40 were selected for course participation from 142 applicants, and another 27 audited the two weeks of classes.

The course is unique, since each student must have a manuscript in process, which is reviewed in morning one-on-one tutorials with Cuban professors, while afternoons are spent in interactive lecture sessions.

The aim is to reach “graduation” with a publishable manuscript. In this sense, results from earlier editions of the course have been encouraging, with an increasing number of papers published in national and international peer-reviewed journals. Students’ comments have also been encouraging: “the tutorials were superb, and professors took the time I needed”; “nurses are not often included in these types of courses, so I’m doubly grateful”; and “lectures clearly drew from the latest in global publication standards”.

Professors, experts, participants and organizers on “graduation day”

Cuban professors are internationally published professionals in health, medicine, biotech and social sciences. Thanks to PAHO and MEDICC Review, international experts and academics also participate. In the last three years, these have included accomplished editors such as Paul Erwin (now Dean of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health), Zoe Mullan (Editor-in-Chief, Lancet Global Health), Jane Carver (professor, University of South Florida College of Medicine), Orla Smith (Managing Editor, Science Translational Medicine), and Jennifer de Beyer (University of Oxford, UK EQUATOR Center).

Dates for the 2019 course edition will be available soon. If you are a Cuban professional in health, social, environmental or related sciences, write admin@mediccreview.org for updates.