Link for Health

In 2006, The Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) was designated a National Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Education.  While maintaining one of the strongest concentrations of Brazilianists of any university in the United States, the Center’s renowned faculty also has particular strengths in Mesoamerican anthropology and archaeology, the study of democracy building and economic development, Latin American literature and languages, and African populations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Center fosters a lively research community on campus by sponsoring colloquia, conferences, films, and a speaker series featuring distinguished scholars and government and business leaders.  The Center is lead by Drs. Edward Fischer and Avery Dickens de Giron.

CLAS offers undergraduate major and minors and a M.A. degree in Latin American Studies as well as joint graduate degrees with the business school (MBA/MA) and Law School (LLM/MA). Moreover, the Center offers a popular graduate certificate program and administers summer research awards to students across the university carrying out work in Latin America. They are also one of the select graduate programs approved by the Department of Defense for its Foreign Area Officer training.

CLAS is home to a number of major research and outreach projects in Guatemala, including:

Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital / Shalom Foundation Alliance:

• 2-3 major surgical missions per year to Guatemala
• Guatemalan rotations possible for Vanderbilt pediatric interns
• In late 2010, opening the Moore Surgery Center in Guatemala City, an innovative “medical timeshare” for mission trips that will involve local medical students as well.

Center for Latin American Studies program in K’iche’ Mayan:

• Funding by the U.S. Department of Education to teach Mayan languages
• 6 week Vanderbilt/University of Chicago Summer Intensive K’iche’ Program held in Nahaula, Guatemala

Biomedical Engineering:

• Service-learning course taught by Cynthia Paschal; students work on medical equipment at Moore Surgery Center and other hospitals in Guatemala
• Collaboration with engineering students from the Universidad del Valle

Owen School of Management:

• Pyramid Project  (led by Bart Victor) students develop strategic planning and business models for Primeros Pasos and other projects in Guatemala
• In the last module, students came up with an innovative micro-finance mortgage system and tested a new product to combat malnutrition

Midwifery / School of Nursing:

• New international component to the midwife program sends students to work with local midwives and Primeros Pasos

Vanderbilt Cancuén Archaeology Project:

• Vanderbilt Cancuén Archaeology Park in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
• Integrating local development and health projects and eco-tourism opportunities

Alternative Spring Break:

• Program going to Primeros Pasos clinic in Guatemala every year since 2005, organized through the Office of Active Citizenship (OAC)

Primeros Pasos / InterAmerican Health Alliance:

• Based at Vanderbilt, this successful NGO founded and led by VU medical student Brent Savoie offers preventive pediatric care to over 1000 patients a month in rural areas
• Opportunities for service-learning trips, medical student emphasis program
• CLAS provides the US-based home at Vanderbilt

Conexión Guatemala:

• Organization run by CLAS that brings together over 15 humanitarian mission efforts based in Nashville that focus on Guatemala

Medicine, Health, and Society / CLAS VISAGE Course:

• VISAGE year-long course Spring/Summer/Fall 2010
• Students will spend 6 weeks in Guatemala over the summer of 2010

Institute for Global Health / PEPFAR:

• Alfredo Vergara hopes to develop a PEPFAR project in Guatemala with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Institute for Coffee Studies:

• Possibilities for collaborations with ANACAFE (the Coffee producers association)

CLAS reaches thousands in Nashville, Tennessee, and the surrounding region through their various outreach programs to the educational, business, medical, and media communities. They have a vibrant K-12 teacher workshop series marked by high attendance and positive feedback; recent topics have included Andean archaeo-astronomy, the Panama Canal, and the art of Guayasamín. They offer Spanish instruction to their Medical School and at Fisk University. They regularly partner with local arts groups and community organizations to sponsor events. They have pioneered an effort to bring together NGOs, faith-based organizations, and academics working in Guatemala to coordinate efforts. They serve as a national resource through a variety of other programs as well, including cultural competency seminars, a film and lecture series, a classroom speakers’ bureau, and a resource lending library.

To learn more about CLAS, please visit their website.  To read about their most recent trip, please click here.