Castro Elected to Cuban Academy of Sciences

Dr. Arachu Castro, Samuel Z. Stone Chair of Public Health in Latin America, has been elected as a corresponding member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. 

Castro is a medical anthropologist and an epidemiologist who conducts research throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on health equity and social inequalities, women’s health and reproduction, and early childhood development in the context of poverty.

As director of the Collaborative Group for Health Equity in Latin America, Castro’s work has taken her to Cuba dozens of times, as well as countries like Mexico, Argentina, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Within the past year she has testified to the United States Congress and Senate Foreign Relation Subcommittees on the Western Hemisphere on COVID-19 vaccine access in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The Cuban Academy of Sciences is based in Havana and is the oldest active national academy of sciences outside of Europe. The academy is national in scope, independent, and consultative in the area of science. It succeeded the former Royal Academy of Medicine, Physical, and Natural Sciences of Havana and is attached to the Ministry of Science Technology, and the environment. 

The Cuban Academy works with U.S. researchers on scientific exchange despite political relations that are sometimes frayed.