UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI HIRES DR. JULIO FRENK as its rst Hispanic president and a renowned global citizen brings international vision and focus to UM Celebrating the arrival of a distinguished academic of Mexican descent to Miami is certainly a unique opportunity, but it’s even more so when this passionate advocate of knowledge accepts a new challenge in South Florida with a single idea in mind: to transform one of the main centers of study into the “ e Hemispheric University” for the region.
Dr. Julio José Frenk Mora took the helm as the sixth president of the University of Miami on August 16, 2015, becoming the university’s rst Hispanic and native Spanish-speaking president. Frenk brings more than three decades of experience as an administrator, practitioner, policy analyst, advocate, educator, and researcher in medicine and public health care to the position. His arrival to Miami elevates the expectations of UM‘s future role in this fast-paced, growing community.
“The appointment of Dr. Frenk to head the University of Miami is a clear testament that Mexico has cultivated generations of professionals that are among the most distinguished in the world in the areas of science, arts and humanities,” said José Antonio Zabalgoitia, consul general of Mexico in Miami. “Wehavegreatpridethat Dr. Frenk, a Mexican with world-class recognition, was selected to lead the University of Miami into its second century.”
Interview with Dr. Julio Frenk
The pride and excitement described by Ambassador Zabalgoitia is also expressed throughout the Mexican business community in south Florida. Recently, David Rosemberg, president of the Inter-American Chapter of the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and a partner at the law rm of Broad and Cassel in Miami, and Teresa Villareal, vice president of the chapter and of Newlink Communications, had the opportunity to sit down with Frenk to discuss his recent appointment and his vision for the University of Miami. e following is an excerpt from that interview:
Q: What does it mean to you to assume the leadership of the University of Miami?
A: Let me begin by stating that it is a true honor to have this opportunity to be the president of a great university such as the University of Miami.
Although in my career I have held a variety of positions, there has always been a consistent thread running through all of them: my rm conviction that knowledge is the most valuable instrument that we have as humans, true knowledge that is derived from solid research and artistic creativity. It is the most powerful tool we have to make positive social change. Granted, there are other forces of social change—ignorance, exclusion and discrimination, to name a few—but if we want positive social transformation, it is solid knowledge that will put us on the path to change.
As an educator, I became very aware of the unique role universities play in society as they are the primary source of tested scienti c knowledge. If we want to successfully navigate the challenges of the twentyrst century, we must arm ourselves with the knowledge that our universities generate and share through research, teaching, and artistic creation. Universities can help mold an individual’ s positive and purposeful character which is fundamental to making true social change.
In a world where we see increasing intolerance, exclusion, and the exploitation of people, I think universities can provide a di erent and better model.
Q: What are your principal goals for the University of Miami?
A: It was evident to me since my rst interview here that this university has a spirit of growth and a palpable desire for improvement. My predecessor, Dr. Donna Shalala, did an incredible job of elevating this educational institution to a level of excellence. is university is among the top two percent of 3,000 universities in the United States but it’ s a university that doesn’ t rest on its laurels; rather, the administration, faculty, and students still strive for improvement.
As part of their search for a new president, the university recognized the strategic value of Miami’s geographic location as the connecting point between the U.S., Caribbean, Central America and South America. I believe that the university was attracted to the fact that, although I completed a major portion of my career in Mexico, my professional work was always guided by an international vision and focus.
I have roots in many countries and pride myself on being a global citizen. As we move further into the twentyrst century, we need global citizens who can retain connections to their national roots as well as understand the lives of citizens in other countries in this inter-connected world. One of my principal aspirations is for the University of Miami to become a hemispheric international university, located in a cosmopolitan city that holds a great university in its heart as its inspiration.
Q: How do you plan to extend the university’s footprint in Latin America?
A: One of the dimensions of becoming “the hemispheric university” is that it becomes the logical university of choice for those who want to come to the United States to study. I want the reputation of this academic institution to be of such high quality and relevance for Latin American students that UM will be the rst option for students from Latin America who want to study abroad.
My vision doesn’t end there.
We are on the brink of a technological revolution in education and I foresee that we will be able to use communication and information technology to create more opportunities to connect with the universities in Latin America. e model that I envision doesn’t involve the University of Miami building campuses in other countries; rather, I want us to create strategic alliances with other universities to achieve an integrated educational environment that will open doors for UM students in Latin American schools as well as attracting more Latin American students to Miami.
We already have a very good proportion of students from Latin America and the Caribbean attending UM because Miami is a strategic geographic center, but we can take this to a new level. We can implement new technologies to build a great learning community that will cover the hemisphere. From there, we can connect with the rest of the world, but we must rst build a strong connection between the Americas.
Q: You arrived in Miami at a time when the U.S.-Mexico relationship has su ered moments of tension. How do you think education can contribute to alleviating some of these tensions?
A: I am convinced that education and knowledge are the bridge to understanding and can serve as unifying elements. For example, the medical discoveries we make here help the entire world, not just those in the U.S., and education, as a way of creating an experience of understanding and inclusion, is an important bridge for communication. We are in an era of technological innovation and I would like this university to ll a niche for the many innovative and entrepreneurial Latin American students who need a place where they can express themselves and have access to capital and markets, as well as a regulatory climate open to the development of talent. Miami is, de facto, the hub niche where the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of the entire region can come together. Obviously, Presi-dents Barack Obama and Enrique Peña Nieto understand this because, in one of their meetings, they expressed their recognition that education is a primary connector between the two countries. e relationship between the U.S. and Mexico has always been complex—being good neighbors is never easy—but I know that education creates a bridge of understanding so that will be something I will emphasize during my tenure here.
What suggestions do you have for increasing the participation of the corporateworldinhighereducation? And why is it important, particularly here in Miami?
A: I think the corporate sector’s link to higher education is absolutely crucial. First of all, we are members of the same community and it is in the best interest of the community to have a great university. In fact, this university was founded in 1925 at the same time the city of Coral Gables was founded. e founders of the city knew that a university was an important key element in building a modern, forward-looking city. e University of Miami was always tied to the vision of what an urban center ought to be. Given that, if I’ m a corporate leader and I’ m looking for a place to put my headquarters, Iwantthemtobeinaplace that has a great university whereIcansendmyownchildren, and more importantly, a place where the community is guaranteed that the intellectual, artistic, and scienti c reputation is of the highest caliber. at, itself, would be a magnet. Also, as investors in innovation—particularly when it comes to research—there is a lot that private sector companies and universities can do together. I believe there is enormous power in the partnerships between corporations and universities, and corporate sponsorship of research is a growing trend. Business and education have a symbiotic relationship. Corporations identify problems, consumer needs, challenges to innovation and provide funding to address those issues and universities are a source for solutions to those challenges. On the other hand, university-sponsored research and innovation need a way to roll out new technology. Corporations have the ability to make sure solutions reach the people who need them. I’ m a strong believer in those alliances because there are common objectives. Finally, education has always been e Binational Business Magazine viewed as something that occurred during a speci c period of life. You graduated and then you moved out of the academic world into the work world. at is no longer the case. Lifelong learning is not just a concept, it’ s a reality as the labor market undergoes unprecedented changes. Corporations require their workforce to add skills and learn the new cutting-edge technologies. Interactive online education is an important solution for corporations that need innovative ways to educate and retrain their own workforces. We live in a knowledge-based economy and corporations cannot succeed if they don’ t make education a high priority in their business. I’ m looking forward to exploring those connections in a very vigorous manner. And those connections, by the way, are increasingly transnational. Although we are here in Miami, our common community is the whole of the Americas so I think a lot of those partnerships can have a truly broad geographic reach.
Q: How can the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce help the University of Miami?
A: e U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce can help us identify opportunities to inform individuals and companies about the value and the orientation of this university. We seek partnerships with other academic and research institutions, as well as other private sector companies and community organizations throughout the Americas. e Chamber can help us spread the message that we want to build bridges between the university and business. I am grateful for this interview to help spread the word. Our membership in the Inter-American Chapter of the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce will help us develop some of those partnerships and that is something enormously valuable to this university.
About Dr. Julio Frenk
Dr. Frenk’s father and grandfather, both physicians, ed to Mexico
from Germany to escape Nazi persecution of Jews in the 1930s. Julio Frenk was born in Mexico City in 1953 and was awarded an M.D. from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1979. Over the next four years, he went on to earn three other advanced degrees from the University of Michigan: master’s in public health (M.P.H., 1981), master of arts in sociology (M.A., 1982), and joint doctorates in medical care organization and sociology (Ph.D., 1983). Additionally, the doctor has been awarded honorary doctorates from several institutions of higher learning.
In 1984, Frenk became the founding director of the Centre of Public Health Research for the Mexico Ministry of Health. In 1987, he became the founding director general of Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health, a position he held until 1992. From 1995 to 1998 he served as executive vice president of the Mexican Health Foundation, a private nonpro t agency, and
director of its Centre for Health and the Economy. He was appointed executive director of Evidence and Information for Policy at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva in 1998, the organization’s rst unit explicitly charged with developing a scienti c foundation for health policy to achieve better outcomes.
Following Mexico’s 2000 election of President Vicente Fox, Frenk was appointed Minister of Health of Mexico. In that capacity he is perhaps best known for introducing Seguro Popular, a program of comprehensive national health insurance that expanded access to health care for tens of millions of previously uninsured Mexicans. A er that, he was a senior fellow in the Global Health Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he counseled the foundation on global health issues and strategies.
From 2009 to 2015, Frenk was dean of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the T & G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and Interna-
tional Development, a joint appointment with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
In addition to his executive and administrative roles, Frenk held several academic positions including senior researcher at the National Institute of Public Health, adjunct professor on the medical faculty of UNAM, and visiting professor at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.
In September 2008, Frenk received the Clinton Global Citizen Award for changing “the way practitioners and policy makers across the world think about health.”
