Rewarding Excellence, Encouraging Leadership... » Veterinary Public Health 

Past Winners

Luary Carolina Martinez, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico

Mexican Receives the 2005 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. Jacobo Finkelman, presented the Pedro N. Acha Award for Veterinary Public Health to Ms. Luary Carolina Martínez for her thesis “Molecular identification of the S19 and RB51 strains of Brucella Abortus used in vaccines.” She received a framed certificate of honor and US$ 1,500.The ceremony was held at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City on October 28, 2005.

The Acha award is one of five awards of the Awards for Excellence in Inter-American Public Health Program. It aims to encourage veterinary public health students to engage in veterinary public health research.

Dr. Jacobo Finkelman proudly noted, "In the 13 years of the award, five Mexicans has received it and of them, three have been members of the UNAM, which is an indicator of the quality and excellence with which works in this institution." He explained to the ceremony guests that the award is named for Dr. Pedro N. Acha (1931-1988), a world-famous veterinarian, who between 1957 and 1986 was the director of the PAHO Program on Veterinary Public Health. Dr. Finkelman also pointed out that “Dr. Pedro Acha always showed a great interest in the formation of the new generations of veterinarians. Pedro Acha was concerned about supporting and promoting the development of young veterinarians such as Luary Carolina Martínez.”

Dr. Francisco Trigo Tavera, director of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics of the UNAM, thanked PAHO for its support and PAHEF for creating this award, “which promotes the arrival of new generations in the area of veterinary research."

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.