I don’t think I am convinced that we have a huge potential in Cuba. But unfortunately, at the moment, the economic situation does not accompany the greatness of Cubans’ minds
Research, commitment, Havana. These three words could represent Diango, a Cuban medical physicist who has been a researcher at the Department of Physics of the University of Turin since 2021.
Diango was born and grew up in Havana close to one of the most famous streets of all Cuba, the Malecón Habanero. 10 km of waterfront that opens the gates to the city. Here, live music, dance, spontaneity and sharing come together in that festive spirit that is intrinsic to the welcoming and cheerful Cuban culture that Diango brings with him. El Malecón has accompanied him for most of his life along with another fundamental aspect: curiosity. From an early age he has always wanted to understand how things were made, how everything worked, and this led him to physics.
After studying nuclear physics in Cuba for five years, Diango moved to Brazil for his PhD in ‘Environmental Physics’. The Cuban education system is excellent, in all areas, and Cuban people often have a deep knowledge of their subjects but, unfortunately, “the actual economic situation does not accompany the greatness of Cuban minds”. In fact, for a person who studies nuclear physics in Cuba, it is normal to do both the master and PhD period abroad.
After finishing his PhD, he returned to Cuba with a new perspective: he wanted to return to nuclear physics and put the value of family and its economic sustainability first. However, this desire turned into need when even Diango and his family’s lives were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The precarious and unstable economic situation of the island due to the economic, trade and financial embargo unilaterally imposed by the United States put the Cuban population in check and had disastrous effects on health, food and education, leading, for example, to the impossibility of importing essential drugs or medical equipment. All of this has been exasperated by the wiping out of tourism revenues and by new sanctions from the USA.
However Diango, with great pride, tells of the incredible work done by Cuban scientists. With no economic resources or time to wait for foreign donations, Cuba was the only developing country in the world to produce as many as two covid-19 vaccines, and to vaccinate more than 90% of the population.
“Cuban scientists are very good, better than others, because with very few resources they do so many things…I don’t think, I am convinced that we have an enormous potential in Cuba”.
During this period, seeking opportunities abroad became the only option to be able to help his family, continue his professional career, and perhaps, take advantage of it to learn a new language as well, and in Italy he found what was right for him, a postdoc in medical physics.
Getting a visa for a Cuban person is very complex, expensive, stressful and slow. Once in Italy, things did not improve. Arriving in October, he had his first appointment at the police headquarters in November and only in February he had that for the fingerprint taking. Throughout this period he remained hostage of the Italian system, if he had left Italy, all his efforts would have been in vain. Furthermore, it was almost impossible for Diango to obtain a European bank account, which he only recently managed to open. There is a great lack of information about the procedures to be carried out, “you trust things to be done right but they are not” and in the meantime “you stand by and you can’t do what you would like to do like moving and doing everything that is normal”.
Moreover, from Cuba Europe is seen as a fair and welcoming place but Diango tells that many Italian people are wary, they tell you where to go eating and not to eat together and he witnessed discriminatory behavior against migrant people in daily actions. However, fortunately, professional life in Italy is very fulfilling for him.
What does a nuclear physicist do in a medical physics research group? He certainly gets little sleep, but leaving humor aside, his contribution to research has a direct effect on society and public health. His team is involved in testing technologies for monitoring clinical particle beams used in hadrontherapy, the charged particle radiotherapy used to treat cancer. They are concerned with measuring key beam characteristics such as size, amount of particles and their energy. In simple words, they aim to improve the effectiveness and precision of beam testing systems, which are increasingly accurate on the tumor mass and less harmful on the healthy tissue around it. This new form of irradiation is called Flash Radiation Therapy, and the use of Mini-Beams, beams as small as one mm in size, necessitates the development of sensors that are increasingly sensitive and accurate to the point of millimeter precision and time response on the order of nanoseconds. Adaptation of sensors used in the hospital setting is critical to accommodate improved radiotherapy treatments.
Diango is fascinated by his work, he has learned a lot over the years partly due to the fact that in the team there is no competition, but the sharing of knowledge. Being able to work closely with linear accelerators dedicated to research and having one specially modified to deliver Flash electron beams is incredible for him. Going to the CNAO in Pavia (National Center for Oncology Hadrontherapy), the CPFR in Pisa (Pisan Centre for Flash Radiotherapy), the SBAM (Basic Sciences Applied to Medicine) Laboratory at La Sapienza University in Rome or to the Proton Therapy Center in Trento and being able to test sensors in the field directly under clinical beams is a unique feeling and a great professional experience.
Every time he returns to Cuba he goes to the university to talk to students, listen to them, introduce them the different opportunities available and tell them about his research in Italy. Since he cannot change the country’s economic situation, he wants to contribute to it through the dissemination of knowledge and it would be a dream for him to create a stronger academic collaboration among Cuba and Italy.
“Finding new effective ways to fight cancer so that it is no longer a global health problem would be a dream for everyone”.
In Cuba he would also bring with him some typical Italian cultural aspects such as the pride for the cuisine and gastronomic variety, and the attention given to the care and appreciation of places. Traveling in Italy, he realized that Italians have a precise attention to details, to natural products and a specific, sometimes exaggerated, concept of taste and beauty. According to Diango, there is not enough awareness in Cuba of the richness, beauty and variety of its heritage, which could be better enhanced and improved.
If he could do so, he would return to Cuba immediately but at the moment he remains in Turin doing research and dreaming of that sea which, for him, is the most beautiful in the world.
