On Wednesday, June 8, 2005, Minister of Health, Social Security, the Environment and Ecclesiastical Relations, Senator the Honourable Ann David Antoine, visited the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, the heart of New York City’s Caribbean community. The Honourable Minister who was accompanied by the Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Grenada to the United Nations, Ms. Marguerite St. John, met with Jack A. DeHovitz, MD, MPH, Director of the HIV Center for Women and Children, and Kathleen A. Russell, MPH, JD, the Center’s Associate Director, to discuss HIV/AIDS and other related health issues in Grenada. Areas of potential collaboration between the Ministry of Health and SUNY Downstate include professional training opportunities for health care practitioners and laboratory scientists, grant writing and resource development. After a tour of the Special Treatment and Research (STAR) Health Center, SUNY Downstate’s ambulatory care clinic for HIV+ adults, which provides services to a predominantly Caribbean immigrant population, the Minister met with the Director of Community Relations, Michael Harrell. Mr. Harrell described a number of educational, outreach, and ‘twinning’ initiatives that SUNY Downstate has launched in the local community, including an ongoing effort to assist Grenada and other island nations who sustained major damage during Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. Senator David Antoine discussed specific health-related equipment and training needs that SUNY Downstate may be able to assist with. The final stop was a visit to the Health and Education Alternatives for Teens (HEAT) Program, located across the street at Kings County Hospital Center, SUNY Downstate’s municipal hospital affiliate, where the Minister toured the adolescent HIV clinic and met with the Director, Jeffrey M. Birnbaum, MD, MPH and staff. The Minister left this institution with great anticipation that this visit will lead to ongoing collaboration and cooperation between the Ministry of Health and SUNY Downstate Medical Center. These meetings were the first of a series of meetings scheduled for the Honourable Minister during her four-day visit to New York to solicit technical, financial and cooperative assistance for Grenada’s health reform. Source: Permanent mission of Grenada to the United Nations, New York