July 20, 2020
The Academy of Sciences of Cuba (ACC) is a member of the Inter-Academy Panel (IAP). In 2000, the IAP founded the Inter-Academy Council (IAC) and the Inter-Academy Medical Panel (IAMP).
Currently, membership includes 140 national and regional Academies of Science, including all branches of science, engineering, and medicine from around the world.
In April the IAP appealed to the Academies of Science, particularly to the Academy of Sciences of Cuba, for nomination of experts, scientists, and scholars who are directly involved and are actively participating in the fight against the pandemic of COVID-19.
The Board of Directors of the ACC chose the most outstanding and qualified scientists and nominated 7 scholars. All the nominations were made on-line, on a site set up for this purpose by the IAP, where, in addition to curriculum vitae and publications, they requested documentation of the participation and specific contributions of these scientists in confronting the pandemic.
In addition, the nominations were not made in a private capacity, but rather by the Academies. By this process the documents of these scholars were received and then forwarded for the following colleagues:
On July 8, we were informed that Academy Member Dr. Tania Crombet Ramos, of the Center for Molecular Immunology of CubaBioFarma had been selected for the International Panel of Experts as Group Advisor for the fight against COVID-19 in the world.
The central goal of this multi-disciplinary panel will be to provide means of accessing reliable information about COVID-19 and its implications for different countries to other Academies and to national governments.
The chosen panel of experts is composed of a select group of 20 members of the Academies, in diverse fields of expertise, and from the entire world, who will be the scientific leaders who work with the three co-moderators and the Secretariat, and a specific committee of the IAP through a process of steps to follow, of questions and answers, all on-line. This is with the expectation of obtaining specific objectives of how to provide information for government policies and for communication to the public, act as a discussion forum and to strengthen international and regional scientific information, filter or discard useless information, publish and compare results for a better battle against the pandemic.
On July 13 we were very pleased to receive the good news that the other seven Cuban scholars nominated were also selected to be part of a larger group which will be the Advisory Group of the IAP, and which will be made up of 60 members nominated by the National Academies.
In letters sent by the directors of the IAP, the scholars were informed of their selection, asked concerning their availability for the work, and informed of the standards, means, and methods for the work which both the Panel and the Advisory Group of the IAP will be carrying out in the world battle against the pandemic.
We congratulate Academy Member Tania Crombet on her selection for the Panel of Experts, fully convinced that she will do great honor to Cuban science and the role of women in science.
We congratulate the other seven distinguished Cuban scholars who have been chosen to work on the Advisory Group and who will contribute their experiences as experts along with the results of Cuban science and of the Cuban government, which has, through its accurate policies and decisions, made possible the containment of the epidemic in our country.
Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau