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The graduation of the second class of Leaders across Borders (LaB) leadership development program and the closing ceremony for the 8th Annual Border Binatonal Health Week (BBHW) were hosted by the University of Arizona Mel and Enid College of Public Health in collaboration with the Arizona Outreach Office of the U.S.-México Border Health Commission (BHC) and the Arizona Department of Health Services Office of Border Health on Friday, October 7, 2011. The event recognized LaB graduates’ work developing their leadership skills to improve the health of communities along the U.S.-México border and promoted BBHW’s goal of increasing sustainable partnerships that can address border health problems.
The LaB program is an advanced, 9-month, binational, leadership development program designed for public health and health care professionals. Its purpose is to improve the health of communities on both sides of the U.S.-México border through strengthening public health leadership capacity, addressing transborder health concerns, and developing a dynamic network of public health professionals on the border region. The 2011 graduating class includes a total of 18 public health professionals from the U.S. and México. All participants live, work, and/or have significant ties to the U.S.-México Border region. Among other activities, participants formed binational teams to select and work on shared health concerns including diabetes and obesity, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and childhood obesity.
Kenneth Schachter, MD, MBA, assistant professor at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health and the program’s principal investigator, closed the program with a quote from Peter Drucker, a noted management scholar: “The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say ‘I’. And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say ‘I’. They don’t think ‘I’. They think ‘we’; they think ‘team’. They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but ‘we’ gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done”.
U.S.-México federal and state health officials invited to speak at LaB on leadership development and binational collaboration included: Dr. Craig Shapiro, Director, Office of Global Health Affairs; Dr. Maria Gudelia Rangel Gómez, Coordinator Comprehensive Strategy for Migrant Health, México Secretary of Health; Will Humble, Director, Arizona Department of Health Services; Dr. Adolfo Félix Loustaunau, Delegate to the U.S.-México Border Health Commission, Sonora, México, and Co-Chair of the Health Services Committee for the Comisión Sonora-Arizona; David K. Mineta, Deputy Director, Office of Demand Reduction, Office of National Drug Control Policy; and Dr. Celina Alvear Sevilla, General Director, National Center for the Prevention and Control of Addictions, México.
The LaB program’s binational partners include: The United States-México Border Health Commission (BHC), the Pan American Health Organization U.S.-Mexico Border Office, the U.S. Border State Health Department Offices of Border Health; El Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, México; El Colegio de Sonora, México; and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, México.
The program features:
- Three face-to-face learning events featuring expert speakers from both the United States and México addressing border/binational culture, health systems, and leading public health concerns; leadership; health diplomacy; and advocacy
- Optional web-based coursework leading to a Diplomado (Certificate) in Public Health awarded through the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in México
- The formation of binational action-learning teams that meet to select and address complex border health concerns through team projects
- Personal leadership development through a 360-degree leadership assessment and team coaching
- Networking opportunities to develop and expand binational professional networks
Border Binatonal Health Week, held the first week of October, is an annual weeklong celebration along the U.S.-México border. This year’s 8th Annual BBHW focused on health promotion and disease prevention through its theme of “Families in Action for Health” with a complimentary message of “preventing obesity and diabetes” to raise awareness of the prevalence, risk factors, and adverse health outcomes of the obesity and diabetes epidemics on the U.S.-México border. Activities during the week included specific health-related topics, a variety of sponsored health screenings, health fairs, and training events.
