People matter medicine

Since our inception, in 1991, Culture & Medicine Foundation has forged a free-thinking, unorthodox and  iconoclastic pathway. During three decades, we have broken the hegemonic mold of disease-centered biomedicine --with a fresh breath of life!   

With this rebellious spirit, C & M Foundation constructively criticized venerated medical protocols and institutions.  In the name of People Matter Medicine, we have "taken the road least traveled," rethinking biomedicine--as if people really matter!   We have manifested fresh ideas and sassy solutions to the most vexing social and health issues of our day. 

C & M Foundation was founded because of this defiant spirit. At the onset of the AIDS epidemic in Brazil, primary health care colleagues  harshly criticized Drs. Nations and de Souza for partnering with Afro-Brazilian Umbanda healers to power-up  HIV/AS prevention in  Fortaleza´s most vulnerable enclaves.  After our first meeting with clinicians,  Umbanda leaders and several people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS (among the first patients in Fortaleza), medical colleagues  warned  Drs. Nations' and de Souza  to "never again" organize such a "risky" encounter. That same afternoon,  the professors locked their medical school office and co-founded Culture & Medicine Foundation--a prejudice-free illuminated space.    

HONORARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES

2021-2024                  

Dr. Zélia Maria de Sousa Araújo Santos, RN, MPH, PhD zeliasantos@fundacaoculturamedicina.org 

Dr. Rosendo Freitas de Amorim, PhD rosendofreitas@fundacaoculturamedicina.org  

Coronel Rondon de Freitas Lopes, PMCE rondonflopes@fundacaoculturamedicina.org

Dr. Rafaele Borgas, MPH, PhD rafaeleborges@fundacaoculuramedicina.org 

EXECUTIVE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Dr. Marilyn K. Nations, PhD. Co-Founder, CEO-President  nations@fundacaoculturamedicina.org

Dr. Fátima Luna Pinheiro Landim, RN, MPH, PhD. Director of Administration-Finance luna@fundacaoculturamedicina.org

Dr. Cristiani Nobre de Arruda, MPH, PhD.  Director of Domestic & International Public Relations arruda@fundacaoculturamedicina.org

FISCAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jacqueline RF Albuquerque, MBA   jacquelineriosfa@ fundacaoculturamedicina.org

Dr. Mairson Ferreira Castro, JD mairsoncastro@ fundacaoculturamedicina.org

Dr. Andrea Braide, MPH, PhD   andreabraide@ fundacaoculturamedicina.org

We are a highly eclectic global alliance  of medical professionals (obstetricians,  pediatricians,  infectious disease specialists, nurses, psychiatrists,  global health experts, health promotion experts etc.),  social scientists (medical anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, etc), statistical experts (epidemiologists, economists, etc.),  legal & human rights advocates ( lawyers,  security members), artists (popular artists,  photographers, filmmakers, etc.) and community health activists and associations. Even the handy academic label "trans-disciplinary" does not adequately capture  or embrace the unique spirit of our group.  Above all else, we are a surprisingly odd mix of individuals who SHARE a single common purpose and passion:  advocating for vulnerable people´s health, safety and well-being. 

Thirty years of fine-tuned synchronicity among our Mastermind Alliance often sparks quantum leaps in our creative imagination,  future visioning and bold innovation!  Our Alliance is a classic example of "the sum being more than its constituent parts."  There is something magical about our "hodgepodge of talents"--devoid of crippling labels, stigmas and prejudices.  C & M Foundation´s  wizardry boils down to a handful of golden nuggets we ALL share and value:   human  empathy, generosity and dignity.  These moral magnets attract like-minded talents to our Mastermind Alliance for Social Transformation.   

For 30 years, the single driving purpose  of Culture & Medicine Foundation has been--and continues to be-- creatively re-imaging  medicine as if people REALLY matter!            

Despite impressive technological advances in biomedicine during the past decades, its clinical practice is all-too-often inhuman, lacking in compassion for human misery and suffering. Reductionist biomedicine is laser-focused on the pathogenesis of diseases while being largely blinded to damaging macro-level structural forces and social injustices which threaten our survival.   Entrenched racism, gender injustices, economic  exploitation, political corruption, environmental degradation,  hunger, war,  genocide, forced migration and more are crippling "sicknesses"  that inflict grave social suffering in Northeast Brazil and across our planet. 

C & M Foundation´s antidote is advocating  health access for disenfranchised populations, racial/ethnic diversity, social justice and radical engagement of common citizens and their communities in humanized self-care and self-determination.   Drawing upon a solid ethnographic evidence-base,  we invent stigma-shattering alternative models of health care delivery that  empower laypeople to take control over their own health and well-being.    

Since its inception, C & M Foundation´s hallmarks have been three: 1.) radical outreaching and partnering with stigmatized, excluded and forgotten communities;  2.) conducting critical cultural evaluations of structural impediments to providing care-with-dignity to ALL citizens  and; 3.) creating innovative "sassy solutions" to promote health access, equity and social justice. 

To strengthen C & M Foundation´s integrity, transparency and institutional ethics, our Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, Board of Fiscal Administration, Directors, collaborators, partners, third party contractors, etc.-- all who act in the name of or represent  C & M Foundation--are required to agree with, and sign,  our Code of Ethics & Institutional Conduct . 

A draft of these two documents, in Portuguese, is currently under discussion by C & M Board members, awaiting their approval and official registration.  

The Code serves as a moral compass to guide our conduct on important  issues, including: control and disciplinary actions, establishment of a permanent  Committee on Ethical Conduct,   moral/sexual conduct in the workplace,  all forms of discrimination, conflicts of interests, equality of opportunities, preservation of C & M´s patrimony, work schedule, health & security,  actions, activities and relations with external organizations, governments and regulating agencies, confidentiality and data safety, work environment, regulations with communication channels and media, intellectual property rights, Information security , political and religious activities,  prevention of corruption, money laundering and financing of terrorism and more.     

C & M Foundation is taking a bold stance on Ethical & Institutional Ethnics as, to date, our signed Agreement is an innovative--albeit needed--tool for promoting social and moral justice in the workplace in Northeast Brazil.   

 C & M Foundation´s  hallmark is  forging "perfect unions"  between health professionals, social scientists and   "unlikely mates"-- non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community associations, cultural groups, local  health activists/militants and common citizens.  

C & M Foundation has forged  inumerous community partnerships, including:   4-Varas Integrated Community Mental Health Project;  Ceará  Association of Prostitutes  (APROCE); Ceara´s Spiritual Union of Umbanda;  Spiritual Center of Umbanda Pai José de Angola;  Spiritual Center of Umbanda Preto Velho da Mata Escura;  Spiritual Center of Umbanda Índia Guacriai Índia;  Spiritual Center of Umbanda Santa Bárbara;  GAPA-CE--Group of Support and Prevention of AIDS in Ceará;  GRAB- Group of Resistance White Wings (Asas Brancas); GESTOS-Recife, Brazil;  Brazilian National Association of Catholic Bishops, Child Pastoral Program; Indigenous Past

oral of Ceará & Center of Defense and Promotion of  Human Rights/CDPDH of the Archdiocese of Fortaleza;  Comitan Health Center, Reproductive Health Project on Domestic Violence,  Chiapas, Mexico among others.     

In 2022, C & M Foundation will  NEW community-based partnerships with the  Community Association of Tapeba Indians of Caucaia and the Quilombola Boqueirão da Arara Community Association both located in Caucaia, CE.  

Culture & Medicine Foundation offers life-transforming, hands-on field research experiences for people who want to roll-up their sleeves and make a real  difference in the world!     

With our re-activation in 2021, we are currently elaborating the long awaited  Course Calendar and re-structuring our international student, faculty clerkship activities and global volunteer program.  

The first intensive course we will offer is our immensely popular:  "The Art & Anatomy of Publishing a Scientific A-1 Article."  Utilizing an original  imagination-expanding  methodology, we coach medical and social science researchers to write, edit and publish TOP A-1 journal articles.  During 20 hours, we   "eviscerate" the anatomical structure of articles and re-figure it for submission to top-rated journals.  Students master the art--the secrets-- for stress-free (even joyful) scientific publication.      

In late 2023, C&M Foundation will, once again, be hosting undergraduate/graduate students, medical/nursing students, interns,  residents and research faculty from educational institutions across the globe. 

In the past, we have hosted students and faculty from Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, University of California Berkeley, University of Virginia Medical School,  Rice University, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health,, University of Wisconsin, SIT-School for International Training  and other US educational institutions.  We have also hosted social science and medical researchers from a wide array of European countries including Switzerland, Germany, England, the Netherlands, among others.    

C & M Foundation thrives on the generosity of global volunteers who donate their time, energy and professional skills.  Contributing at-a-distance or engaged in on-the-ground fieldwork, the volunteer spirit is a driving force in our Foundation.