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The ASM Council Policy Committee International Committee and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), with the support of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), have recently organized a course on Molecular Aspects of Microbial Pathogenesis at the Instituto de Nutricion y Tecnología Alimentaria (INTA), University of Chile, Santiago, Chile (see article on p. 294). The course was offered primarily to graduate students residing in Latin America. In my 25 years of involvement in microbiology, spent mostly in Latin America but also in the United States, I do not recall any educational activity of this kind being offered by an American or European institution to students in Latin America. I feel that calling it a course was short of the truth because, in my modest view, it was more than a course. This educational activity brought together 50 students from Latin America, 5 professors from U.S. universities and observers from ASM, NAS, HHMI, and INTA. In addition to strict technical matters, students and professors were also able to discuss other subjects of common interest. From what I had the chance to learn from faculty, other observers, and students, several issues emerged that I would like to share with members of the microbiological community.

After the lectures and the student slide presentation sessions, not only the interest of the students for the lecture contents but also the interest of the professors for the results from the students' research was apparent. It was rewarding and not surprising to see that discussions of research topics most often exceeded the time allowed in the program and continued over lunch and coffee breaks. I would like to point out that the design of this educational activity, although exhausting, singularly favored the exchange not only between teachers and students, but also between students. Graduate students and young graduates in Latin America have little chance to interact with their peers in other Latin American countries. Similarly, it is very difficult for these young scientists to meet scientists from the United States. Students were most grateful to the organizers for providing through the course in Chile an excellent forum for easy and effective, face-to-face interaction with established foreign researchers to obtain their advice.

The educational activity in Chile permitted students and professors to clarify certain issues subject to misinterpretation. The lack of fluent exchange between young scientists abroad and scientists in the United States has led to wrong assessments of the real situation from both sides. One common misconception is that all U.S. institutions are very wealthy and that one of their goals should be to offer financial help to scientists in poorer countries. Faculty, observers, and students realized through their exchanges that those involved in research and teaching in the microbiological sciences are suffering similar constraints in both North and South America, albeit within different social contexts. The exchanges between those attending the course permitted identification of areas of common interest for potential international collaboration. The students learned that such joint ventures may permit access to funding, which may not be available if each party applies separately, and they were grateful to the organizers for showing them a path that might lead to future strengthening of basic research in Latin America. On the other hand, students felt that most scientists in the United States are not familiar with the current situation of research in countries of Latin America. Indeed, professors and observers were gladly surprised at the quality of the research performed by many of the students. Moreover, they were genuinely amazed at the ingenuity of Latin American scientists to overcome the multiple problems that researchers face in Latin America to complete their projects and publish their work.

The course in Chile was the result of dedicated team effort by staff and volunteers from different institutions. The students were surprised to know that no stipends of any kind are paid to professors for their work in the course. The students praised this volunteer attitude and were encouraged by it. In fact, the most enthusiastic ones proposed means to keep every student updated on each other's research projects and to look for future collaborations or scientific exchanges. In this regard, the educational activity in Chile acted on a group of young microbiologists in Latin America as a primer for future academic and/or scientific international ventures.

Strengthening of international activities is one of ASM's objectives. The effort, first steered towards Latin America, has enabled ASM to identify the educational needs in this geographical zone. To this purpose, ASM has recently launched the Latin American Fellowship Program, for young scientists to visit a laboratory in the United States, and the International Professorship Program, to send ASM professors abroad for hands-on short courses. These ongoing programs, plus the ASM Ambassadorship Program, have been most welcomed by graduate students and young researchers. The growing demand for these programs may call for other educational activities in the international arena. The course developed in Chile is a good example of how ASM may serve the microbiological community worldwide and how microbiologists may help each other under ASM leadership. It illustrates an approach that merits further pursuit not only by ASM but also by other institutions teaming up with ASM.

Daniel Sordelli
University of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Argentina