UIS is strengthening its international presence in global health through the participation of Professor Bladimiro Rincón Orozco, affiliated with the School of Medicine, who served as Colombia’s sole representative on the GLACIER One Health Global Center.
The DAAD celebrated the fifth anniversary of its Global Centers for Climate and the Environment, and for Health and Pandemic Prevention, in Berlin. The event brought together teams and scholarship recipients from the centers, representatives from academic institutions and stakeholders involved in public policy, as well as diplomatic representatives and officials from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office.
The agenda included two symposia featuring interactive workshops on implementing research in real-world contexts, transdisciplinary panels fostering dialogue between science and public policy, conferences with international participation, scientific presentations by senior researchers, an inter-center meeting for the new doctoral cohort, and meetings aimed at strengthening future cooperation efforts.
GLACIER—the German Latin American Center for Infection and Epidemiology Research—operates within this international context. It is an initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office through the DAAD’s Global Centers for Health and Pandemic Prevention program. GLACIER seeks to strengthen Latin America’s capacity for surveillance and response to emerging infectious diseases, as well as to contribute to the development of new vaccines and therapies.
From a One Health perspective, GLACIER integrates disciplines ranging from virology and immunology to vaccine and drug research and the social sciences. It also promotes the training of researchers, the strengthening of local capacities, transnational scientific exchange, and greater interaction among research institutions, health organizations, and public policymakers.
One of the central messages of the meeting was the importance of strengthening an equitable North-South-South dialogue capable of connecting Germany with institutions and scientists from different regions of the world. This model of cooperation seeks to foster solutions tailored to local realities, while maintaining a broader perspective on major global challenges related to health, climate, and the environment.
For the UIS, participation in GLACIER represents a strategic opportunity to expand its international scientific cooperation networks and strengthen capacities in areas such as global health, immunology, infectious diseases, pandemic prevention, and One Health. For Colombia, this partnership helps align national scientific capabilities with international networks focused on advanced training, research, and preparedness for emerging health threats.
Professor Bladimiro Rincón-Orozco’s participation thus serves as a bridge to strengthen the presence of the UIS and Colombia in international forums for scientific cooperation and the training of new generations of global health researchers.
Five years after their creation, the DAAD Global Centers continue to consolidate international networks that connect knowledge, training, and cooperation to address challenges that transcend borders.
