February 12, 2026— Recent headlines about Cuba have understandably raised questions and concerns among many of our partners, colleagues and supporters. As an organization with 28 years’ experience fostering respectful mutual learning and collaboration between U.S. and Cuban health professionals, we hope to offer you more clarity and context. Our assessments are based on persistent, real-time communication with our Cuban colleagues, who continue their essential work despite ongoing challenges.
Cuba undoubtedly faces serious difficulties, including the economic and social impact on Cuban families of severe energy shortages and related resource constraints, aggravated by recent ramped-up U.S. economic pressures topping over sixty years of U.S. sanctions. Cubans in the health sector adapt, as they have for decades, prioritizing essential care, vital research and education. Thus, top on today’s agenda for them is ensuring primary health care services, women’s and children’s health, continuity of care for cancer patients, and support for medical sciences schools. Research continues into conditions affecting older adults, such as Alzheimer’s, and to treat and prevent infectious diseases. We see serious efforts enhancing resilience in the health workforce, communities working together and Cuban partners who continue to welcome collaboration.
In this context, MEDICC is committed to move ahead with our programs and our cooperation, and we invite you to join us.
MEDICC’s Gateways Program provides lawful opportunities to health and related professionals for travel to Cuba. Such firsthand experiences and interactions offer unique possibilities to deepen research and gain mutual insights for improving health in both our countries. U.S. government travel regulations authorizing such travel remain in place, and MEDICC’s programs are fully compliant with these guidelines. Our legal team and travel agency partners advise us of any new legal or logistical hurdles that may pose difficulties for our travelers, whose wellbeing is our priority.
As Cuban health professionals, researchers, scientists, community leaders and medical educators strive to maintain and improve health outcomes under extraordinarily difficult conditions, MEDICC commits to collaboration for health that we believe is not only appropriate, but also essential to support greater access to quality care, build community-engaged health systems and advance shared public health goals across our borders.
March 1, 2025—MEDICC is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Teddie Potter as Acting Executive Director.
She comes to the organization from the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, where she has taught for over a decade and currently serves as the inaugural director of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice. Deeply committed to education on climate change and planetary health transformation, she is also a board member of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments and the Planetary Health Report Card.
Dr. Potter has received continuous praise for her teaching and last year received the University of Minnesota’s DAISY mentorship award. In her faculty capacity, she has led ten research trips to Cuba for University professors, administrators and PhD students, with travel services provided through MEDICC’s Gateways Program. Dr. Potter’s published works span decades, and she was the founding Executive Editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies. She serves on the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the US Health Sector; the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM); and the Climate Crossroads committee of NASEM.
Dr. Potter was appointed upon the retirement of Dr. C. William Keck, a MEDICC founder who will continue to serve on the Board of Directors. “I could not be more pleased that we have chosen Teddie Potter to lead the organization at this juncture, when global public health demands more cooperation than ever before,” said Keck. “She is talented and experienced in building effective cooperation among scientists, health care providers, communities and international institutions committed to population health and improving health equity. This is what MEDICC is all about.”
“Her leadership in planetary health promises to extend the reach of MEDICC’s programs and partnerships,” said MEDICC Board Chair Gail Reed, noting that Dr. Potter is a member of the American Academy of Nursing Environment and Public Health Expert Panel and the Steering Committee of the Planetary Health Alliance.
“MEDICC is an organization with tremendous integrity and ethical comportment,” said Dr. Potter upon accepting her new position. “It places the best interests of human and planetary health at the center of its work and duly recognizes the contributions of Cuba and its people to global health and health equity.”