US Physicians Trained in Cuba Battle COVID-19 at Home:A Personal Account from the New York City Epicenter

Speaking remotely with US graduates of Havana's Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), I found them at work on hospital floors, in ICUs and health centers across the United States, putting their professional and personal commitment to the test against COVID-19. Nowhere was that more evident than in New York City, the disease's epicenter, where one grad told me virtually every hospital has at least one MD from the Cuban school, which has provided free 6-year medical training for some 30,000 doctors since the school's founding in 1999. The student body comes primarily from low- and middle-income countries worldwide, but Cuba also provided 200 US students with scholarships. One of them is Dr Joaquín Morante (ELAM Class of 2012), who did his medical residency in internal medicine, followed by fellowships in pulmonary disease and critical care medicine. Triple-licensed in internal medicine, pulmonary and critical care medicine, he is now an attending physician on staff at Jacobi Medical Center in The Bronx, one of New York City's public hospitals, and considered a 'hot spot' due to its COVID-19 caseload. I spoke with him during a break at home in mid-April.Dr Joaquín Morante, ELAM Class of 2012: Pulmonologist, critical care attending physician at Jacobi Medical Center, New York City.