INTEC authorities meet with more than 80 medical graduates practicing in the United States.

The event was attended by the Minister of Public Health of the Dominican Republic, Víctor Atallah, and took place at Columbia University in New York.

NEW YORK. - The Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), through its Area of ​​Health Sciences, brought together more than 80 of its health professionals at the first alumni meeting in the United States, held at the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center on the Columbia University Health campus in this city. 

The participants, who practice their profession in different cities across the United States, traveled to New York to meet with university officials, led by interim rector Alliet Ortega, as well as with the Dominican Republic's Minister of Health, Víctor Atallah, who attended the meeting in his capacity as Distinguished Medical Graduate. 

The day began with remarks from Jean-Marie Alves-Bradford, associate dean of the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons at Columbia University, who highlightedó the presence of INTEC graduates on the Columbia faculty and expressed his intention to explore academic mobility and joint research alliances between the two universities.

Afterward, Samuel Bonilla, a Columbia University graduate, thanked the host university for its hospitality and highlighted the importance of INTEC graduates to the university community: "You are INTEC's main source of pride and its reason for being," he stated.

INTEC's interim rector, Alliet Ortega, delivered a message of gratitude and reiterated the institution's commitment to its global community: "Wherever there is an INTEC graduate, we will be there," she emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Dean of the Health Sciences Department, Miguel Robiou, reviewed the evolution of the School of Medicine since its founding in 1973 and presented future projects, highlighting the international accreditation achieved in 2018 and the efforts to promote applied research. "I want to have a health research group that generates benchmark studies for public policies in our country. I have no doubt that we are on the right path," he said.

Likewise, the Dominican Minister of Health expressed that he owes all his professional training, as well as a large part of his personal development, to INTEC. He recalled the symbol of the bee, the institutional mascot, as a reflection of the collaborative and productive nature of the INTEC community. “Bees are indispensable to the world, and so are you: indispensable to the world,” he told his colleagues present at the meeting.

The day concluded with a speech by Rosario Aróstegui, Vice Rector for Research and Outreach, who invited the graduates to strengthen their ties with the university and actively participate in its academic and scientific initiatives: "Academic excellence transcends borders, transforms, and produces change, and you are our ambassadors of academic excellence," she stated. Also attending the event was Fernando Santamaría, academic coordinator of the Health Sciences Department. 

The meeting highlighted the broad presence and leadership of INTEC graduates in the United States healthcare sector, where they hold prestigious positions as heads of academic departments at renowned universities, medical directors at major hospitals, heads of lung transplant systems, public health professionals, owners of private clinics, and specialists in various branches of medicine. It reaffirms INTEC's commitment to consolidating a global network of graduates capable of transforming healthcare and society internationally.