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Julio Frenk

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Frenk and the second or maternal family name is Mora.
Julio Frenk
Frenk in April 2005
6th President of the
University of Miami
In office
August 16, 2015 – June 12, 2024
Preceded byDonna Shalala
Secretary of Health of Mexico
In office
December 1, 2000 – November 30, 2006
PresidentVicente Fox
Preceded byJosé Antonio González Fernández
Succeeded byJosé Ángel Córdova
Personal details
Born
Julio José Frenk Mora

(1953-12-20) December 20, 1953 (age 70)
Mexico City, Mexico
SpouseFelicia Knaul
Education
AwardsCalderone Prize (2018)
Scientific career
FieldsMedical care organization and sociology
ThesisSocial origin, professional socialization, and labor market dynamics: the determinants of career preferences among medical interns in Mexico (1983)

Julio José Frenk Mora (born December 20, 1953) is a Mexican physician and sociologist who served the sixth president of the University of Miami from 2015 to 2024.

After receiving an undergraduate medical degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1979, he attended the University of Michigan and graduated with two master's degrees and a PhD degree in 1983. After that, he became a public servant at the Ministry of Health of Mexico and served as Secretary of Health of Mexico from 2002 to 2006. He served as dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 2009 to 2015.

From 2019 to 2024, he served as the sixth president of the University of Miami, where he also served as a professor of public health science at the Miller School of Medicine, a professor of health sector management at Herbert Business School, and a professor of sociology at the College of Arts and Sciences.

On June 12, 2024, the University of California, Los Angeles announced that, effective January 1, 2025, Frenk would become the 7th chancellor of the university.[1][2] The same day, the University of Miami simultaneously announced Frenk was being replaced "effective immediately" by the university's chief executive officer, Joe Echevarria, who became acting president of the university.[3]

Early life and education

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Frenk was born on December 20, 1953, in Mexico City. His father and grandfather, both of whom were physicians, were Jews who fled to Mexico from Nazi Germany.[4] His mother was Alicia Josefina Mora Alfaro, a Mexican biochemist. [5]

Frenk received an undergraduate medical degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City in 1979. He then attend the University of Michigan, where he received a Master of Public Health in 1981, a Master of Arts in sociology in 1982, and a Doctor of Philosophy in medical care organization and sociology in 1983.

Frenk is the brother of famed British astrophysicist Carlos Frenk.

Career

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Frenk with Mexican president Vicente Fox and education secretary Reyes Tamez in Los Pinos during the initialing ceremony of the National Institute of Genomic Medicine in July 2004
Frenk's official installation as the University of Miami's sixth president in January 2016
Frenk with wife Felicia Knaul in October 2018

In 1984, Frenk was appointed director of the Centre of Public Health Research in the Ministry of Health of Mexico, a role he held until 1987. Following that, he went on to serve as the founding director general of the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico from 1987 to 1992. From 1995 to 1998, he served as executive vice president of the Mexican Health Foundation, a private non-profit organization, and director of the organization's Centre for Health and the Economy.

Frenk also has served in several academic roles, including as a senior researcher at the National Institute of Public Health and as adjunct professor of medicine and national researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. In 1992–1993, he was visiting professor at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies at Harvard University's Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

In 1993, he was an advisor on health reform for the government of Colombia, working alongside health economist Felicia Knaul. The two married in 1995, and settled in Mexico.[6]

In 1998, Frenk was appointed executive director of evidence and information for policy at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.

Minister of Health of Mexico (2000–2006)

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Further information: Secretariat of Health (Mexico)

Following the election of Vicente Fox in Mexico's 2000 presidential election, Frenk was appointed minister of health of Mexico, a position he held until December 2006. In 2003, as Mexico's secretary of health, Frenk introduced a comprehensive national health insurance program called Seguro Popular, which expanded access to health care for tens of millions of previously uninsured Mexicans.[7]

In 2003, Frenk was among five final candidates for the position of director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) alongside Lee Jong-wook, Pascoal Mocumbi, Peter Piot, and Ismail Sallam; Lee was eventually appointed the position.[8]

In 2004, Frenk was criticized by tobacco control advocates for his role in cutting an unusual deal with tobacco companies in which Philip Morris and British American Tobacco agreed to donate $400 million for health programs in Mexico over two and a half years but reserved the right to cancel the donation if cigarette taxes were raised[9]

In September 2006, the Mexican government again nominated Frenk as a candidate for the leadership of the World Health Organization.[10] The British medical journal The Lancet published an editorial[11] endorsing Frenk as the best candidate while The Wall Street Journal reported that Frenk's controversial 2004 tobacco deal could hurt his chances for election.[9] Along with Elena Salgado, Kazem Behbehani, Margaret Chan, and Shigeru Omi, Frenk was one of the five finalists for the position, which was awarded to Chan in November 2006.

Harvard University School of Public Health (2009–2015)

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Further information: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Following his service as Mexico's minister of health, Frenk was tapped to serve as senior fellow in the global health program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he counseled the foundation on global health issues and strategies.

Frenk subsequently served as dean of the faculty at Harvard University's Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 2009 until 2015.[12] While at Harvard, he was also the T & G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and International Development, a joint appointment made with the Harvard Kennedy School.[13] Under Frenk's leadership, Harvard's School of Public Health received its largest ever gift of $350 million and was renamed Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2014.[14]

In addition to his role as dean of Harvard School of Public Health, Frenk co-chaired, along with Lincoln Chen, the Commission on the Education of Health Professionals for the 21st Century, which published its final report in The Lancet in 2010. The report recommended that governments place the same emphasis on fighting cancer that they place on infectious diseases like AIDS and malaria.[15] He served on the High-Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development, co-chaired by Joaquim Chissano and Tarja Halonen, from 2012 to 2014.[16] In 2013, Frenk joined Vicente Fox and others in campaigning for marijuana legalization at a series of events in the United States and Mexico.[17]

In 2015, Frenk co-edited a collection of non-fiction essays on the subject of global health, "To Save Humanity," which included work from Michelle Bachelet, Larry Summers, Elton John, Frenk, and others.[18]

University of Miami (2015–2024)

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Further information: University of Miami

On April 13, 2015, the University of Miami announced the appointment of Frenk as the university's sixth president, succeeding Donna Shalala.[19] He was officially inaugurated on January 29, 2016.[20] In 2015, Frenk's salary as University of Miami president was $1.14 million.[21]

On June 12, 2024, the University of California, Los Angeles announced that Frenk would be joining UCLA as the university's chancellor on January 1, 2025.[2] The same day, the University of Miami announced that the university's chief executive officer, Joe Echevarria, had been appointed acting president of the University of Miami "effective immediately."[3] On June 19, 2023, the University of Miami student newspaper, The Miami Hurricane, labeled Frenk's departure "shocking", and criticized his leadership. "Frenk was rarely a prominent influence on UM’s campus," the student newspaper reported.[22]

Under Frenk's nine years of leadership of the University of Miami, the university slipped notably on U.S. News & World Report's ranking of national universities, which ranked the university 48th in the nation upon his arrival in 2015[23] and 67th in the nation upon his departure in 2024.[24]

Other activities

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Awards

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Honors

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References

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  1. ^ "Julio Frenk to take helm of UCLA, nation's No. 1–ranked public university, as its 7th chancellor". UCLA. Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Dr. Julio Frenk named first Latino chancellor of UCLA", University of California, June 12, 2024
  3. ^ a b "Announcement regarding President Julio Frenk". messages.miami.edu. Archived from the original on June 24, 2024. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  4. ^ "A Global Health View". Harvard Magazine. March 2009. Archived from the original on October 5, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
  5. ^ Bourges Rodríguez, Héctor (June 11, 2020). "Silvestre Félix Frenk Freund 1923-2020". Salud Pública de México. 62 (3): 348–351. doi:10.21149/11372 – via SciELO.
  6. ^ Goho, Alexandra (September 29, 2014). "Closing the Cancer Care Gap". Cancer Today. Archived from the original on December 2, 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  7. ^ "Health System Reform in Mexico | the Lancet Global Health Network". Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
  8. ^ Lawrence K. Altman (January 29, 2003), South Korean Nominated to Head W.H.O. Archived June 18, 2024, at the Wayback Machine New York Times.
  9. ^ a b John Lyons; Betsy McKay (October 24, 2006). "Tobacco Deal Haunts Contender for WHO Chief". Archived from the original on August 11, 2024. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 25, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ Horton, Richard (2006). "The next Director-General of WHO". The Lancet. 368 (9543): 1213–1214. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69496-8. PMID 17027707. S2CID 37755884. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  12. ^ Zachary Fagenson (April 13, 2015), Former Mexican health minister named University of Miami president Reuters.
  13. ^ Board of Directors: Julio Frenk Results for Development (R4D).
  14. ^ Sharon Begley (September 8, 2014), Harvard receives largest-ever gift, $350 million for public health Reuters
  15. ^ Donald G. McNeil Jr. (August 16, 2010), Cancer: Expert Panel Calls for Aggressive Fight Against Cancer in Poorer Countries Archived June 17, 2022, at the Wayback Machine New York Times.
  16. ^ Members Archived April 23, 2023, at the Wayback Machine High-Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development.
  17. ^ Gabriel Stargardter (July 20, 2013), Mexico could legalize marijuana in five years: former president Reuters.
  18. ^ "To Save Humanity Book Launch Julio Frenk". Vimeo. August 27, 2015. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
  19. ^ [1] Archived April 16, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ "Presidential Inauguration on Livestream". livestream.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2024. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  21. ^ Dhiraj, Amarendra (December 11, 2017). "America's Top 50 Highest Paid Private University Presidents". CEOWORLD magazine. Archived from the original on August 1, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  22. ^ "Frenk's choice to leave UM before the centennial is shocking", The Miami Hurricane, June 19, 2024
  23. ^ "2015 best colleges rankings" Archived June 25, 2024, at the Wayback Machine, U.S. News & World Report
  24. ^ "2024 Best National Universities" Archived December 23, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, U.S. News & World Report
  25. ^ Commission for Universal Health Archived June 24, 2022, at the Wayback Machine Chatham House.
  26. ^ The Commonwealth Fund (2010). "Dr. Julio Frenk to Join Commonwealth Fund Board of Directors" (http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/News/News-Releases/2010/Jul/Dr-Julio-Frenk.aspx Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine). Commonwealthfund.org
  27. ^ Senior Advisoy Board Archived October 20, 2020, at the Wayback Machine Exemplars in Global Health.
  28. ^ Board of Directors: Julio Frenk Miami-Dade Beacon Council.
  29. ^ Julio Frenk Elected to Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Board of Trustees Archived July 24, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), press release of January 29, 2015.
  30. ^ Board of Directors: Julio Frenk United Nations Foundation.
  31. ^ "Dr. Julio Frenk to Receive Frank A. Calderone Prize from Columbia Mailman School of Public Health". ASPPH. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  32. ^ "Inter-American Dialogue | Julio Frenk". www.thedialogue.org. Archived from the original on April 13, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  33. ^ "$10 million anonymous gift to Harvard's Public Health School supports scholarships, doctoral-level public health leadership training". News. September 12, 2016. Archived from the original on February 19, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
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Political offices
Preceded by
José Antonio González Fernández
 Secretary of Health
2000–2006 		Succeeded by
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