Ana Morales Varela

Ana Morales Varela is a professor at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, Cuba.

Morales, who graduated from the University of Havana Medical School as a doctor of medicine in 1977 headed the Cuban Medical Mission in Guinea-Bissau in 1985. She was an adviser to the Ministry of Public Health in that country from 1985-87. During that time she had responsibility for founding the first medical school in Guinea-Bissau, donated by Cuba. 

She returned to the Republic of Guinea and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau 1995-97, directing medical facilities in both countries.

Morales was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1951. Both her father and grandfather were dock workers at the Port of Havana. Her grandmother was one of the 95 victims who lost their lives on March 4, 1960, when the French ship La Coubre exploded in Havana harbor in one of the most deadly acts of sabotage directed against the Cuban Revolution.

The ship was carrying arms for the newly founded workers' militias, purchased with contributions by the Cuban people.

Morales received a degree as a medical specialist in Health Organization and Administration from the Institute for the Development of Health in 1983. She graduated with a masters degree in Health Sciences from the National School of Public Health in 2000.

She has worked interchangeably in pediatrics, municipal and provincial public health administration, and as a professor in numerous medical schools. She is exceptionally well qualified to speak not only about Cuba and Africa, but on the example of Cuba's health system for the world.