UPR/MSC CURRENT PROJECTS
AND ACTIVITIES
Selected Campus Projects Relevant to Women's Health
The Hispanic Center of Excellence Program
The Hispanic Center of Excellence Program of the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine is a federally funded program administered through the Office of Disadvantaged Assistance, Bureau of Health Professions of the Public Health Service that began on September 1, 1993. It contributes to the understanding of health issues affecting Hispanics, the development of instructional activities for health professionals that serve mainly Hispanic populations, and the training of Hispanic physicians able to deliver culturally sensitive health care, as well as able to understand and contribute to the solutions of the health problems affecting these populations.
The program is an important promoter of the training of generalist physicians and supports the development of research that is relevant to the health problems faced by Hispanics in Puerto Rico and the US mainland. The Community Oriented Primary Care model is used as an appropriate service delivery model upon which instructional activities and relevant research may be developed. The program conducts activities to strengthen and expand existing institutional programs concerning student performance and recruitment, information resources, curriculum, faculty development and retention, and faculty and student research. Research is strengthened through the following objectives:
Faculty will develop research in community oriented primary care, health services outcomes, and Hispanic health problems that will result in publications and/or presentations by the faculty.
Provide students with a supervised research experience dealing with health issues that affect Hispanics on the island and on the mainland, the results of which will be presented at the Medical Sciences Campus Annual Research Forum or another appropriate professional or scientific forum.
In order to strengthen the program, the faculty training and faculty research components are implemented in collaboration with the Tufts University School of Medicine and the University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Public Health. In addition, the Program has joined efforts with the Division of Biomedical Sciences of the School of Medicine in order to enhance the research activities of the faculty and the students of the School. The Associate Director of this program will be Assistant Director of the Education Unit of the proposed COE, as objectives of both Centers are complementary.
