Members of CPRC's Immigration/Migration group played key roles in the “The Dominican Air Bridge: a Research Agenda”, which was a collaboration between the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) (Autonomous University of Santo Domingo), and the Mailman School of Public Health. Held on November 6-7, 2008, the conference was co-chaired by Ana Abraido-Lanza; Linda Cushman, Jennifer Hirsch, and Vincent Guilamo-Ramos were active participants. The conference brought together academics and researchers from both institutions to identify research relevant to unique health needs and challenges inherent in the circular migration (or “air bridge”) between the Dominican population in New York City and in the Dominican Republic. The meeting was a follow-up to a larger conference hosted by UASD in October 2007 in Santo Domingo. The Santo Domingo meeting marked the 20-year anniversary of a landmark conference, “Hispanic Health Care Approaches in New York City”, held in New York City. Thus, the Dominican Air Bridge conference was the third in a series of collaborative meetings with La UASD spanning two decades.
Designed as a small, working conference to pursue research ideas generated during the meeting in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Air Bridge conference provided a forum for Mailman School and UASD investigators to better acquaint themselves with each other and their work. To achieve the meeting’s broad goal to identify an agenda for new and ongoing research collaborations, the conference included both formal presentations by UASD and Columbia faculty on key health issues among Dominicans on both sides of the air bridge, as well opportunities for informal interchange among participants. Conference attendees included 9 colleagues from the UASD, among them Jorge Asjana David, MD, Dean of Health Sciences and Public Health, and Professor Miguel Catalino Martínez, Director of the School of Public Health, as well as faculty and students from the Mailman School and the broader Columbia community. To obtain additional information or updates on the meeting, please contact conference Co-chair, Ana Abraído-Lanza (email: afl7@columbia.edu).