Meeting with Jorge Delgado

Yesterday, we met with Jorge Delgado - the Director for International Relations, and his assistant - Tania Menesse at the Cleveland Foundation. Jorge is Cuban and knows Russia very well. He studied Construction at the Moscow State University in 1985-91. He than studied Economics at Harvard University in Boston, than lived and worked in Hamburg, Germany. He speaks 5 languages (Russian is one of them) and is very well versed in the issues related to current Russia. In fact, he watched the State of the Nation address by the Russian President Vladimir Medvedev in full (in Russian). I bet none of us did that.

Article on Cleveland.com We talked about RAMA work in the US and our projects in Russia. We were seeking support for the RAMA's Siberian Pediatric Heart Project. The meeting was very productive mostly because he is interested in RAMA as another force in development of Ohio economy. We plan to bring Ohio businessmen to Russia during our next medical mission. We also expect to host a delegation of Russian businessmen in Cleveland at some point in 2010.  

Next steps: 
1. Meeting with Mike Malone prior to the 2nd meeting with Delgado. Mr. Malone is an expert in business administration, PR and human resources management. He teaches these subjects at the Kent State University in Akron, OH. 
2. Meeting with Jorge Delgado for brainstorming of our proposal.
3. Meeting with Toby Cosgrove, MD at the CCF. Dr. Cosgrove is a cardiothoracic surgeon and the President at CEO of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation - one of the top 4 largest hospitals in the world, well-known for its modern approach to healthcare, extremely successful business model and international program.  
4. Meeting with Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio).


Ideas for the meeting with Dr. Toby Cosgrove: 
1. We need CCF to be the base for observership for Russian doctors.
2. We need CCF support for joint research projects.
3. Promoting CCF and an international brand in Russia with Russian patients coming to CCF for treatment. 
4. Construction of the "CCF-Siberia" medical center in Kemerovo, Russia.