Cuba trains Detroit doctor

[Jacuma]

CASS TECH GRADS FIRST IN MIDWEST TO RECEIVE SCHOLARSHIPS

By Eric T. Campbell
The Michigan Citizen

As Detroit Public School students affected by school closings try and
figure out the best routes to new destinations, two former DPS attendees
are getting ready for a much longer trip on their first day of class.

Chinere Knight and Ese Agari, both Cass Technical High School graduates,
were recently accepted to the free scholarship program at the world
renowned Latin American School of Medicine (LASM) in Havana, Cuba.

Knight and Agari will join about 16 other students from around the
country who will receive a medical degree without submitting to the
enormous debt most med school graduates incur in the United States.

Chinere Knight first heard of Cuba’s reputation as a leader in the
medical field from her mother, Desiree Ferguson, who had visited Cuba
for an international lawyers’ conference as co-chair of the National
Conference of Black Lawyers in 2001.

“I had met several medical students, including many from Ghana, and was
very excited about what I saw,� Ferguson told the Michigan Citizen.

Chinere Knight’s dueling passions for medicine and research make her a
perfect candidate for medical school. She was involved in extensive
plant behavior studies at Cass Tech and during her undergraduate studies
at Howard University. She also spent a summer researching breast cancer
at the Karmanos Institute. But it’s her sense of civic duty that makes
her a candidate for medical school in Cuba.

Volunteering in New Orleans after the Hurricane Katrina disaster
fostered Knight’s perspective on the social responsibility taken on by
medical professionals. She spent time conducting interviews with
volunteers to record their experiences and took up an independent study
on the protocol of FEMA and its sluggish response.

“It showed you that, yes, we are in America and we have all these
resources, but once you go through the bureaucracy and you go through
the prejudice and the bias, you might not get the assistance that you
should,� says Knight.

The Latin American School of Medicine was conceived in 1999 as a way to
train doctors from areas in Latin America and the Caribbean which were
hard hit by Hurricanes Mitch and George the previous year.

Cuba offered 500 full scholarships to medical school candidates from
each of the four hardest hit countries with the stipulation that
graduates return to their countries of origin to serve in impoverished
communities. Cuba now reserves spaces for students from countries all
over the world, including 250 scholarships earmarked for students from
under served communities in the U.S.

“You have an obligation to work, when you come back to the U.S., in an
underrepresented community, where there’s need.� Knight told the
Michigan Citizen during a recent interview. “And you dedicate yourself
to that for your entire career. I said, that’s not a problem, I do that
anyway.�

According to the World Health Organization, Cuba has twice as many
physicians per capita as the United States and the infant mortality rate
is less than most cities in the United States.

A recent New England Journal of Medicine article (“Affirmative Action,
Cuban Style� 12/23/2004) cited health indicators in Cuba being “on par
with those in the most developed nations.� In the spirit of service,
Cuba has sent thousands of doctors and medical professionals to serve in
the poorest areas of Latin America and Africa.

Knight’s application process began just this past December, but has been
extremely rigorous and driven by more liberal criteria.

“They look more towards your character and what inspires you to go
there,� says Knight.

Students on their way to LASM are aware of the effect the costs of
medical school in most countries can have on the rest of your career.
Application fees alone can discourage prospective students from pursuing
a path in medicine.

“You can start off real high-spirited and passionate and want to help
people— I believe that most doctors have that spirit,� says Knight. “But
after you go through all of the debt you accrue in undergrad and in
medical school, and then if you want a private practice you have to pay
the insurance premiums.�

Pastors for Peace and the Interreligious Foundation for Community
Organization (IFCO), coordinators for the LASM scholarship program here
in the U.S., are brother organizations created to “advance the struggles
of oppressed people for justice and self-determination.�

They have been conducting the delivery of humanitarian aid to Cuba since
1988 through ‘friend-shipments’, in defiance of the U.S. economic
embargo. According to the IFCO website, nearly 100 U.S. students are
currently receiving medical training at the Latin American Medical
School.

According to Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, who has been active in getting
the program attention in the Detroit area, Knight and Agari are the
first students from the Midwest.

“I am thrilled beyond words that two young people from this community
have been accepted and met the requirements and have been courageous
enough to see the vision of what can be available to them and to our
community,� Councilwoman Watson said.

Chinere Knight’s time in Cuba will span almost seven years but with her
return we can expect a much needed doctor to Detroit, who’s committed to
serving the community first.

“If we do want to improve our level of health and eradicate diabetes and
hypertension, than we need to figure out some alternative way to do it,�
says Knight. “I think Cuba’s medical system offers that.�

[Jahness]

Greetings JAcuma!


This is a great article. As usual the evidence speaks for itself. Cuba is always willing to help those in need. Cuba's humanitarian efforts has been felt globally.

The best thing about all their programs is that it offers hope and vital help to those who on a regular basis would never get a chance to follow their dreams and pursue their goals.

I especially like the fact that they also let the recipients know that giving back in their communities is the only way to help their own people move forward.

Much appreciation to you for sharing this great article.


Peace!