My name is Antonio Leaño Reyes, Vice President of the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara. It falls to me to respond to your recent article published on June 29, 2003 - "Med Schools – Four that Flunk". I write to you and your readers because I find myself perplexed and annoyed by recent articles regarding our University.

Permit me to proudly inform you about the first private University in Mexico. The UAG was founded in 1935 on the same premise as that of the United States – freedom. We chose to oppose a socialist education and tenaciously confronted authoritarianism in order to achieve our guiding principles – "Freedom of Teaching and University Autonomy".

Situated on five principal and numerous subsidiary campi in and around Guadalajara, our University offers 52 undergraduate careers, 28 masters and 3 doctorals in addition to an educational system that begins with elementary schools, high schools, preparatory schools and Mexico’s first community college – UNICO.

The UAG looks for well-rounded applicants not just numbers and grades. So much so that President Bush presented the UAG with the Heritage Award for the quality of education that our graduates receive. The Journal for Minority Students presented us with the "Spectrum Award" for our contribution to minority medical education.

Students from the U.S. have the option of doing a Fifth Pathway. After lobbying by students and parents, the AMA proposed that U.S. medical schools offer a special year of training in the core clinical disciplines to qualifying foreign medical students.

The program is endorsed by the ACGME and offered by U.S. medical schools. The American Medical Association was, and is, the sponsor. On July 1, 1971, the AMA launched what it called "An Academic Year of Supervised Clinical Training," which soon became known as the Fifth Pathway.

Now, over 38 years later, the UAG has more than 13,000 alumni in the United States, practicing every medical specialty and licensed in every state and in every phase of PGY and retirement. Our Graduates hold offices in State Boards, are Medical Directors of Hospitals, are Medical Directors in the Armed Forces, are professors at U.S. medical schools, hold high positions in State Medical Associations, in NASA and in Washington – and as part of the Physicians Without Borders have won a Nobel Prize.

Here are a few awards that our graduates have received: Best Physicians in the U.S., Physicians of the Year, Outstanding First Year Residents, Chief Residents, Teachers of the year, Clinical teacher awards, Residents of the Year, Outstanding Surgical Residents, New Jersey Medical School Faculty Exceptional Merit Award, Certificate of Excellence in Leadership and Responsibility – College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, DRIPPS Award for Outstanding Graduating Senior Resident, National Academy of Pediatrics Special Achievement Award, Camden County Physician of the Year, Doctors of the Month, Physician for A Day in State Legislatures, Continental Medical Systems Medical Director of the Year, State Health Directors, Community Heroes, Olympic Torch Carriers, National Faculty Award for Excellence in Residence Education, Eleine Kohler Award for Humanity in Medicine – Division of Pediatric Medical Care Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, President of New Hampshire Family Practice, President New Hampshire Medical Society, AMA Resident Leadership Award - - - just to mention a few.

In your newspaper’s zeal to report statistics from 13 and 15 years ago, you "singled out" 4 institutions that in your estimation "flunked". Our University was especially thrashed. As an institution with a 65-year history, a student body of 16,000 and graduates in all fields from Accounting, Architecture, Communications, History, Languages, International Law, Mathematics, Nursing and, of course, Medicine; and an educational system that includes primary, secondary, preparatory schools and the first community college in Mexico – UNICO, we herewith reply to your "articles".

Point 1 – A surgical error made 13 years ago … This graduate of 1977 made a surgical error 13 years after he graduated. So, what did he do in the interim? He went to postgraduate education in U.S. teaching hospitals affiliated with U.S. medical schools. He passed the licensing examinations and was licensed by a state board.

Point 2 – An undergraduate degree is not required – that is true, we require 90 semester credit hours that include 32 hours of premed courses. We also strongly recommend that they finish their degree. There are many medical schools both in the U.S. and abroad that do not require an undergraduate degree. Refer to the AAMC website for this information and to their publication - MSAR (Medical School Admission Requirements).

Point 3 – Other medical schools fared poorly but only Guadalajara and … appeared in the bottom 5 percent. Yes, out of 2 states along with 7 other institutions (which you did not mention). As you did not mention other states where our University was not in the bottom 5 percent.

Point 4 – Together…these well-established schools have produced more than 600 doctors cited by licensing boards. In your own analysis on a national level the UAG has 155 physicians cited – out of the approximate total of graduates of 13,000 – that’s 0.011%.

Point 5 – Fifth Pathway graduates in 1985 less likely to find jobs in primary care positions. In 1985 there were more paths available to physicians not just primary care. In 1985 risk-contracting options became available after TEFRA passed in 1982 and enrollment in HMO’s began to increase in the late 1980’s through 1990’s.

Point 6 – Fifth Pathway graduates completed their training in hospitals viewed as providing medical education of a less than desirable quality. In an article by Senator Kay Hutchison in the AHA Today she states "teaching hospitals provide the lion’s share of specialty services: 40% of all neonatal…, 53% of pediatric intensive care and 70% percent of all burn units". Once again your poor research and irresponsible reporting have undermined excellent, creditable U.S. teaching hospitals.

Point 7 - …warmly embraces a steady stream of mediocre students. Your writer presumes to know the difference in students by a mere glance and proceeds to insult students that are not even in our medical school.

Point 8 – The school draws US citizens …by catering to college students who do not have the grades or the MCAT scores to win admission to a medical school in the United States.

Again, your presumption is misleading and insulting to our students and our graduates – not to mention the ECFMG, (Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates) the state boards and the ACGME residency programs.

Point 9 - . . . take a hard look at the safety records of certain American doctors who were trained in Mexico. These graduates participated in a program known as the Fifth Pathway program. The Fifth Pathway Program is a special program for Americans done through U.S. medical schools and approved by the AMA. Not all physicians from Mexico go the Fifth Pathway route – not all, though a great percentage, come from the UAG. Mexico has 63 medical schools.

The Hartford Courant is the oldest newspaper in the United States. In all those years, since the 1700’s, your service must have been quite good in order to remain in existence. The same can be said about our University.

We invite you to visit our University – openly --and talk with students, parents and graduates that are excellent participants and representatives of the noble profession of medicine.

Antonio Leaño Reyes

Vice President