Drell Lecture 2023 | New Challenges for Medical Humanitarian Workers and Patients in Conflict Zones | Dr. Joanne Liu in Conversation with Paul H. Wise

Thursday, March 9, 2023
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
(Pacific)

Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center

Speaker: 
  • Dr. Joanne Liu,
  • Paul H. Wise

This event is free and open to the public. Please join us afterward for refreshments in the Dwight Living Room in the Alumni Center.

About the Event: On a daily basis, hospitals are being attacked in conflict zones. Is it time to rethink our global protection systems for civilians and health facilities in war?  A testimony on the current reality on the ground.

About the Speakers: 

Dr. Joanne Liu is a Canadian pediatric emergency room physician and former International President of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). A graduate of the McGill Medicine class of 1991, Liu first joined MSF in 1996, working with Malian refugees in Mauritania. Since then, she has provided and coordinated emergency medical aid across the globe, whether it be resulting from natural disasters like tsunamis or earthquakes or viral outbreaks such as Ebola in 2014. As a member of the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response, Liu has been contributing to a set of comprehensive recommendations to protect people from future outbreaks. In 2021 she was conferred an Honorary Fellowship by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the most prestigious honor the School awards. Dr. Liu is currently a professor focusing on pandemic and health emergencies at McGill University’s School of Population and Global Health (SPGH).

Dr. Paul H. Wise is the Richard E. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society and Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy at Stanford University School of Medicine.  Dr. Wise is also a Senior Fellow in the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and the Center for International Security and Cooperation, in the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University. He is also co-Director of the March of Dimes Center for Prematurity Research at Stanford University.

Dr. Wise received his A.B. degree summa cum laude in Latin American Studies and his M.D. degree from Cornell University, a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health and did his pediatric training at the Children’s Hospital in Boston.  His former positions include Director of Emergency and Primary Care Services at Boston Children’s Hospital, Director of the Harvard Institute for Reproductive and Child Health, and Vice-Chief of the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  He served as Special Assistant to the U.S. Surgeon General, Chair of the Steering Committee of the NIH Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research, and currently is a member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH. 

Dr. Wise’s research focuses on health inequalities, child health policy, and global child health.   He leads a multidisciplinary initiative, Children in Crisis, which is directed at integrating expertise in political science, security, and health services in areas of civil conflict and unstable governance.

 All CISAC events are scheduled using the Pacific Time Zone.