Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals

Dr. Andrés Gil is a distinguished alumnus of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota where he earned his Ph.D. in Veterinary Medicine in 1993. While in Minnesota he established professional relationships with U.S. and Canadian veterinarians and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Emergency Programs. His thesis on foot and mouth disease was credited with assisting the eradication of this disease from Uruguay. This accomplishment had significant economic benefits for his country in terms of increased world trade.

Dr. Gil is head of the Epidemiological Unit at the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries in Montevideo as well as the head of the Biostatistics and Informatics Department at the Universidad de la Republica. He also serves as coordinator for the school's Scientific Academic Committee for the graduate program.

Dr. Gil is a leader in Uruguay, Latin America, and internationally in epidemiology and statistics, agriculture, food safety, surveillance, and veterinary medicine. In 1998 the Minnesota-Uruguay Partners of the Americas, in which Dr. Gil has played a leading role since graduating from the University of Minnesota, received the International University Linkage Award for Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Gil has been successful in attracting support from U.S. universities, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Japanese International Development Agency for many important projects in the fields of food safety, animal disease monitoring, dairy calf morbidity and mortality, new methodology in teaching biostatistics, and evaluation of meat composition.

In naming Dr. Gil a recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals, the selection committee honored his influential leadership role and his unique ability to obtain support and outcomes in Uruguayan livestock production, health, and economics, which has resulted in national and worldwide benefits.