Simón Bolívar Foundation collaborates with Baylor College of Medicine to Train Venezuelan Physicians

HOUSTON, April 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Simón Bolívar Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit private foundation, in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine is offering to fund up to seven scholarships to medical professionals working in Venezuela for a world-class Diploma Course in Tropical Medicine from Baylor's National School of Tropical Medicine.  

The Fundación  Academia Nacional de Medicina Francisco Antonio Rísquez in Venezuela will play a key role in assisting the Foundation with dissemination of information to potential scholarship candidates in the country and the development of an objective process to identify qualified candidates to be recommended to apply for a scholarship to Baylor College of Medicine for a Diploma in the Tropical Medicine program.  

"We see this collaboration as the first step towards a long-term, mutually beneficial strategic relationship with Baylor College of Medicine and the Fundación  Academia Nacional de Medicina Francisco Antonio Rísquez," said Mariela Poleo, President of the Simon Bolivar Foundation. "This charitable program provides capacity-building for medical professionals in Venezuela, given the evidence of loss of health professionals in Venezuela and the need to re-build capacity, while at the same time providing bidirectional knowledge transfer. I am particularly pleased with the invaluable collaboration that will be provided by the Venezuelan National Academy of Medicine in identifying candidates to be recommended to apply for a scholarship for a Diploma in the Tropical Medicine program," she added.  

The Tropical Medicine program is an intensive non-degree online program designed for physicians, consisting of four modules addressing Epidemiology, Public Health, Tropical Bacteriology and Virology, Tropical Parasitology and Mycology and Application of Travel and Tropical Medicine via webinars, in four months. This program will develop skills needed for health care professionals to work in the tropical medicine field and will prepare them to sit for the CTropMed® Certificate of Knowledge in Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers' Health.  

Among the program objectives, candidates will be able to (i) describe the principles and management of childhood illness, reproductive healthcare, and current approaches to address health needs of women and children; (ii) apply diverse clinical sub-specialties focused on the tropics; and (iii) discuss the differential diagnosis for returning travelers with fever and/or eosinophilia, all in line with the Foundation's charitable mission to develop capacity to assist those in need in this area. 

Applicants are expected to present their credentials as physicians, three letters of recommendation, and an essay on their motivation to obtain this Diploma and have sufficient English language skills to successfully complete the TOEFL test.

Baylor's application process for the program is currently scheduled to begin in June 2022 and be completed in September 2022, with the program commencing in January 2023.  The Simon Bolivar Foundation, in collaboration with the Venezuelan National Academy of Medicine, will issue a call for candidates and identify qualified candidates to recommend to apply for scholarships to Baylor College of Medicine for a Diploma in the Tropical Medicine program.  

Pre-selected candidates will be recommended to apply to Baylor College of Medicine which will have the final decision on acceptance to the program in accordance with its selection criteria.

For more information about the scholarship program, please visit the Simon Bolivar Foundation or  Academia Nacional de Medicina websites.

About the Simón Bolívar Foundation 
The Simón Bolívar Foundation is the 501(c)(3) non-profit, private foundation of CITGO Petroleum Corporation. The Foundation supports initiatives, leverages existing resources and invests in organizations to meet the immediate and long-term health needs of the most vulnerable individuals particularly in and from Venezuela with a special focus on the health and well-being of children and their mothers.  

SOURCE CITGO Corporation