Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals: Andres Gil

CVM alumnus Andres Gil was a winner of a 2004 Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals, a University of Minnesota award for alumni, former students, and friends of the University who have distinguished themselves as leaders in their professional careers.

Andres Gil is an alumnus of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, where he earned his M.S. in 1991 and his Ph.D. in 1993. His thesis on foot and mouth disease was credited with assisting in the eradication of the disease from Uruguay, his native country. This accomplishment had significant economic benefits for his country in terms of increased world trade.

Dr. Gil is currently head of the epidemiological unit at the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries in Montevideo, Uruguay, as well as the head of the Biostatistics and Informatics Department at the Universidad de la Republica.

He is an international leader in epidemiology and statistics, agriculture, food safety surveillance, and veterinary medicine. In 1998, the Minnesota-Uruguay Partners of the Americas, in which Dr. Gil had a leading role, 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 areas of food safety, animal disease monitoring, dairy calf morbidity and mortality, new methodology in teaching biostatistics, and evaluation of meat composition.

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