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OO RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHSK
RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTA #1853/01 2881024
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151024Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6613
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 2033
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFAAA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC 1593
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2061
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2535

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001853 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G, SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD, ECA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL OEXC SOCI KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN:  DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER REQUESTS MEETING WITH 
SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  Deputy Prime Minister Yerbol Orenbayev would like to 
meet in Washington the last week of November with Secretary of 
Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to seek linkages between 
the National Institutes of Health and Kazakhstan's new national 
university.  We encourage this meeting, because the university 
project is consistent with the Government of Kazakhstan's 
long-standing emphasis on education as a fundamental tool for 
national development.  Further, the desire for educational linkages 
and contacts with the West is in line with Kazakhstan's long-term 
goal to develop a national post-Soviet mentality for the future. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  Chief Executive Officer of National Medical Holding Almaz 
Sharman called on the Ambassador on October 14.  Sharman, an 
American citizen who maintains a residence in Bethesda, Maryland, 
provided extensive documentation on the establishment in Astana of 
New University, which will likely be officially named Nursultan 
Nazarbayev University (NNU) in 2010.  The initial academic block is 
already well under construction.  Planned to be a comprehensive, 
world-class university and research center, the initial phase will 
encompass a School of Public Policy, a School of Engineering, a 
School of Natural Sciences, and the NNU Health System.  The health 
system will include a Life Sciences Institute (for research), a 
School of Medicine, and the National Medical Holding.  The School of 
Medicine is already working with Partners Harvard Medical 
International on a long-term development plan, and is also working 
to include the University of Pittsburg Medical Center and Duke 
University.  Sharman's immediate goal is to establish relations with 
the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the view of 
developing a research partnership for the Life Science Institute. 
 
¶3.  Deputy Prime Minister Yerbol Orenbayev, who is well and 
favorably known to us, and Sharman would like to travel to 
Washington Thanksgiving week to meet with the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services (Orenbayev's letter to Secretary Sebelius is in 
para five below) and senior officials at the NIH.  Sharman asked 
that Embassy Astana make these appointments for them.  We said we 
would be glad to pass this information to Washington, but that 
Kazakhstan's Embassy in Washington should take responsibility for 
making the appointment, with the State Department assisting as 
needed. 
 
¶4.  COMMENT:  Although grandiose, the NNU project is consistent with 
the Government of Kazakhstan's long-standing emphasis on education 
as a fundamental tool for national development.  Further, the desire 
for educational linkages and contacts with the West is in line with 
Kazakhstan's long-term goal to develop a national post-Soviet 
mentality for the future.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶5.  BEGIN (LIGHTLY EDITED) TEXT OF LETTER: 
September 30, 2009 
 
Your Excellency 
Kathleen Sebelius 
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services 
 
Dear Secretary Sebelius: 
 
First, let me congratulate you on your recent appointment as the 
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.  We hope that 
in this position you will play an important role in addressing the 
challenges of global health in addition to domestic issues in the 
United States. 
 
I am writing this letter to inform you about a new initiative of the 
Government of Kazakhstan to establish Kazakhstan National University 
under the auspices of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. One of 
priorities of the new University will be medical education and 
biomedical research focusing on stem-cell engineering, molecular 
biology, nanomedicine, and other areas of cutting-edge biomedical 
research.  This letter is to express our interest in partnership 
between the new University and the U.S. National Institutes of 
Health (NIH) in the areas of biomedical research and training of 
biomedical scientists. 
 
In mid-November I plan to travel to the United States and would be 
happy to meet with you and your staff to discuss details of the 
proposed partnership.  In the meantime, please find, below, 
information with a general description of the project. 
 
Medical School and the University 
 
ASTANA 00001853  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
The University will be located in Kazakhstan's capital city of 
Astana.  The new permanent campus will be ready in mid-2010 with 
120,000 square meters of space for classrooms, teaching labs, 
wet-lab research, and administrative offices.  The University will 
comprise four major schools:  Public Policy, Technology, Natural 
Sciences, and Biomedicine.  The campus will be located immediately 
adjacent to the National Medical Holding, the region's leading 
state-of-the-art tertiary-care hospital system with a total 1,200 
acute hospital beds.  The faculty and students will work closely 
with leading physicians and biomedical scientists in Kazakhstan. 
Our goal is to establish this Medical School in Astana in 
partnership with one of the leading academic centers in the United 
States.  The Government of Kazakhstan is expected to make 
investments to establish the partnership as part of Kazakhstan's 
strategy to become a leading center for medical education and 
biomedical research. 
 
The new Medical School in Astana will adopt the American model of 
post-baccalaureate medical education where students begin their 
medical studies after earning a bachelor's degree.  In fact, they 
will be studying towards the USMLE licensing.  The graduates will 
have the opportunity to build their careers as scholars in medical 
research, education, and patient care and acquire an option to apply 
for U.S. medical residency programs.  The goal is to create a new 
generation of physician-scientists to assume leadership positions in 
research, academia, and in health-care settings such as 
tertiary-care hospitals at the National Medical Holding. 
 
Biomedical Research 
 
We are seeking partnership with NIH in the field of biomedical 
research.  Specifically, we need assistance with establishing a 
state-of-the-art biomedical facility and developing joint research 
programs in such areas as cancer and stem-cell biology, 
cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, the science of ageing, and 
neurosciences.  This is expected to be a long-term program funded by 
the Government of Kazakhstan. 
 
The Medical School in Astana will be heavily involved in biomedical 
research.  The University expects to appoint 40-50 faculty staff who 
will be actively involved in research programs.  At least half of 
these Principal Investigators (PIs) are expected to be Kazakhstan 
residents, while the rest will be recruited internationally.  Each 
PI will manage a laboratory of 6-8 research staff, the bulk of which 
will likely be from the region, and comprised of students in medical 
(MD) and medical-scientist (MD/PhD) training programs, postdoctoral 
fellows, doctors undertaking research fellowships, and research 
assistants.  The Medical School in Astana hopes to train a 
significant number of clinical researchers from its program every 
year, thereby contributing to Kazakhstan's growing pool of clinical 
researchers. 
 
We sincerely believe that this project provides a unique opportunity 
to improve health and quality of life in Kazakhstan and the 
countries of the former Soviet Union.  Physician-scientists play a 
unique role in modern medicine, having received extensive training 
in both medicine and research.  Students entering the Medical School 
in Astana are expected to be among the best and brightest and highly 
motivated.  Graduates of the Medical School in Astana will be 
pioneers, as they are the core of a new generation of clinical 
researchers in Kazakhstan and the former Soviet Union who will 
spearhead efforts to develop new treatments for diseases and better 
methods of delivering healthcare, and contribute significantly to 
alleviating the suffering of patients in Kazakhstan and around the 
world.  Partnership with NIH would enhance the long-term positive 
aspects of the proposed program. 
 
We recognize that this proposal will need your careful review.  We 
would be happy to provide additional information you may need. 
 
Sincerely, 
Yerbol Orynbayev 
Deputy Prime Minister 
 
HOAGLAND