Past Winners
Judith Margarita Gaymard, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Mexican Receives the 2004 Pedro N. Acha Award for Veterinary Public Health
On behalf of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation (PAHEF), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization Representative in Mexico, Dr. José Germán Rodríguez presented the Pedro N. Acha Award for Veterinary Public Health to Ms. Judith Margarita Gaymard, during a ceremony at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City on January 18, 2005. She received a framed certificate and US$1,500. The Acha award aims to encourage veterinary public health students to engage in veterinary public health research.
Ms. Gaymard received this award for her thesis “Evaluation of the epidemiological patterns of a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak through a simulation model”. Her study shows a new approach to examine the FMD outbreak. Since FMD is in the final phase for regional eradication, the paper was especially relevant to the Western Hemisphere of FMD. The paper also provides a useful tool to improve surveillance and emergency action in case of FMD reintroduction in FMD-free areas. Ms. Gaymard is a graduate of the School of Veterinary Medicine of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
During the award ceremony, Ms. Gaymard thanked PAHEF and PAHO for recognizing her innovative paper on foot and mouth disease surveillance. She also credited family, professors, and tutors for their support. Dr. Luis Zarco, Director of the School of Veterinary Medicine, commended Ms. Gaymard for her award and spoke on the significance of the Acha award to students and professors. He encouraged students and professors to nominate students each year for this prestigious award. Dr. Rodríquez, the PAHO/WHO representative in Mexico, also addressed the audience by quoting Dr. Acha, “Those who are responsible for the professional education in the veterinary sciences should grasp this idea and begin to guide our training centers to the three principal services benefiting humankind: agriculture, biology and public health. I believe that if we were to do any less, we would fail in our mission”.
The Pan American Health and Education Foundation is an independent philanthropic organization working to combat disease, lengthen life, improve health care services, foster health research, and enhance the capacities of health care workers in the Americas through grant-making and direct program implementation. The Foundation works to promote philanthropy as a core social value, and shares the Pan American Health Organization's vision of Health for All.
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