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Public Conference on Health, Panama
Salud Actual: Realidades, Descrubimentos y Perspectivas
(Health Today – Realities, Obstacles and
Perspectives)
Panama City: October 18, 2000
Sponsors:
Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine
In cooperation with:
Foreign Ministry of Panama
Health Ministry of Panama
Global Academy Genome Institute
Pan American Health Organization
United Nations Development Program
The Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine, together with its co-sponsors, convened this Public Conference entitled,
Health Today – Realities, Obstacles and Perspectives, in order to offer the medical community and other constituencies of the healthcare sector of Panama and the region a variety of health and medical perspectives from across the Americas.
Conference Moderators:
Rodrigo Eisenmann, M.D., president, Panamanian Association for the Advancement of Science
Walter Link, chairman of the Global Academy
Conference Faculty:
Renato Gusmao, M.D., Ph.D., program director of Communicable Diseases, Division of Disease Prevention and Control, Pan American Health Organization.
William Hurlbut, M.D., physician and consulting professor, Program in Human Biology, Stanford University
and member of the President's Council on Bioethics
Joseph Jacobs, M.D., M.B.A. former director of the Office of Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health
Enrique Mendoza, M.D., dean, University of Panama Medical School
Jose Maria Paganini, M.D. DrPH, director, Interdisciplinary University Center for Health at the School of Medical Sciences, National University, La Plata, Argentina
Michael Wohlfeiler, M.D., J.D., medical director, Special Immunology Services, Mercy Hospital, Miami, Florida.
The health conference was convened to coincide with the meeting of health ministers of Latin America, Spain and Portugal for whom the Global Academy also convened a briefing. The health ministers meeting took place as part of the annual meeting of the Ibero-American Summit of Governments, or
Cumbre in Spanish.
Because the Global Academy had previously organized several highly successful conferences for the handover of the Panama Canal, the Summit of Foreign Ministers of the Association of Caribbean States, the Panamanian Government and UNDP requested that the Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine and the Genome Institute provide the program content for this conference.
The program of presentations and dialogues focused on the following themes:
 Integrative medicine and its relevance in terms of the traditional healing systems of the Americas and its potential for low cost medical services.
Genetic technology and its impact on the future of health care.
Infectious diseases specifically malaria and HIV/AIDS.
Medical equity, access to health care, and the medical technology divide.
 The
sponsors invited several hundred participants from the scientific and
medical communities, academia, policy makers, civil society representatives,
the media, and the general public, who became actively engaged in the lively
dialogues which reflected a breadth of perspectives. Consequently, the
conference was not only an educational event, but also an opportunity for
members of the relevant communities to exchange their views. The conference
was also broadcast by Panamanian television to increase access to a wider
public, a key strategy followed by the Global Academy wherever possible.
One of the results of this public meeting was that the University of Panama
medical school invited the Genome Institute to develop a proposal for future programs on this topic. As a first step, the Global Academy Institute for Integrative Medicine, together with the Genome Institute, will provide a significant part of the programming for the University’s 50th anniversary celebration, which will include members of the region’s medical communities.
Biographies of Conference Faculty:
Rodrigo Eisenmann, M.D., an orthodontist, is president of the Panamanian Association for the Advancement of Science and
president of the Amador Foundation, an organization founded to build the Aquarium of the World at the entrance to the Panama Canal to be designed by Frank Gehry.
Renato Gusmao, M.D., Ph.D., is the program director of Communicable Diseases in the Division of Disease Prevention and Control of the World Health Organization. He is the author of numerous publications and articles in the field of immunology.
William Hurlbut, M.D., is a physician and consulting professor in the Program in Human Biology at Stanford University. After receiving his undergraduate and medical training at Stanford, Dr. Hurlbut completed his postdoctoral studies in
theology and medical ethics, first studying under Robert Hamerton-Kelly. Dr. Hurlbut’s
main areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing
technology and neuroscience and the integration of the philosophy of biology
with Christian theology. In January 2002, Dr. Hurlbut was appointed to the
President's Council on Bioethics. Dr. Hurlbut has co-taught integrative courses at Stanford with Luca Cavelli-Sforza,
director of the Human Genome Diversity Project, and Nobel Prize winner Baruch Blumberg. Dr. Hurlbut also works with the Center for Security and International Cooperation on a project formulating policy on Chemical and Biological Warfare and with NASA on projects in Astrobiology.
Joseph Jacobs, M.D., M.B.A., received his medical degree from Yale University and obtained his MBA at the Wharton School of Business. Dr. Jacobs served as
director of the Office of Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health and he has authored and/or contributed to eight books including
Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology, Medical Futility and the Evaluation of Life Sustaining Interventions and
Community-Oriented Primary Care: From Principles to Practice.
Walter Link is the chairman of the Global Academy, whose work
ranges from corporate responsibility and the environment to human rights,
education, genetic technology, consciousness and medicine.
Enrique Mendoza, M.D., is dean of the Medical School at the University of Panama.
Jose Maria Paginini, M.D., D.P.H., is a pediatrician, director of the Interdisciplinary University Center for Health at the School of Medical Sciences, National University, La Plata, Argentina and a visiting professor at the John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Paganini worked for many years for the Panamerican Health Organization/World Health Organization in the Caribbean and Central and South America. He is a co-founder of the International Society for Equity in Health and president of the
Argentinean Society for Equity in Health.
Michael Wohlfeiler, M.D., J.D., is medical director, Special Immunology Services, Mercy Hospital, Miami, Florida. He has authored numerous publications on HIV/AIDS including
Care of Persons with HIV/AIDS, Challenging the Frontiers of Palliative Care, and
Medical Management of AIDS.
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