FORT WORTH, Texas—The School of Public Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center has established a formal partnership with its counterpart at the University of Chile.

The Memorandum of Agreement between the two schools of public health establishes a framework for technical cooperation, the first step toward possible joint activities in the future. The agreement focuses on five initial areas in which the two institutions can work together. These are:

1. To exchange public health information, articles, journals, and teaching materials to support the educational programs

2. To develop a joint publishing effort in the area of public health and social services in health, which will bilaterally include the translation of articles, books and journals

3. To develop learning opportunities through courses, seminars, theses and other sources related to public health that would benefit professors, researchers, students and employees of both institutions

4. To develop academic projects as well as collaboration, negotiation and shared use of research monies received from grants and technical assistance

5. To exchange professors, researchers and students, for short visits as well as sabbaticals, short scholarships that will be dedicated to participation in research, teaching, theses or professional works related to public health.

"I am confident that this agreement will provide us with the necessary groundwork for what will develop into a long-lasting collaborative relationship," said Giorgio Solimano, M.D., of the University of Chile.

Fernando Trevino, Ph.D., M.P.H., dean of the health science center’s School of Public Health, concurred, "This agreement allows our faculty and students to increase their exposure to public health issues in other countries."

The health science center established its School of Public Health in 1999 to train highly qualified individuals in the areas of public health practice and research. The school now has more than 160 graduate students working toward their master in public health degrees and 11 doctoral students working toward a doctorate of public health (DrPH) degrees. U.S. News & World Report has ranked the MPH degree program among the top 20 in the country for two consecutive years.

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