PHR Student Program South Regional Hub

Over the next month, PHR chapters in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern regions will be collaborating on a Regional Advocacy Institute that will take place on November 13 at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. The Mid-Atlantic and Southern Institute promises to be an engaging, informative, and exciting event.

The Institute will address a number of topics that are relevant to students: the research and advocacy of PHR, how students can contribute, the resources available to Chapters (like the new Toolkits), and the new online community (everyone in your Chapter should register!). This weekend, the Midwestern Regional Advocacy Institute took place in Chicago, and they covered a lot of the same topics. Chapters from all over the Midwest connected and shared resources, ideas, and plans.

For me, the most prominent issue is Health and Human Rights Education (HHRE), which Jake already identified as our number one priority for the year. We need to identify ways to implement HHRE, provide support for our chapter leaders as they spearhead curricular initiatives, and ultimately come up with an evidence base for the importance of HHRE in medical education.

HHRE initiatives could range from health and human rights electives (something that we are currently implementing at my school, as part of the preclinical public health course) to colloquia on human rights and justice issues as they pertain to health. Health and human rights issues could also be incorporated into academic inquiry – as medical students, our research, whether basic sciences, translational, clinical, public health, or something else, would only be enriched by an awareness and understanding of human rights issues. I could go on ad infinitum about the benefits of HHRE, but I’ll end for now.

At the Institute, I look forward to collaborating with other Mid-Atlantic and Southern chapters, and working with fellow SABer Mona Singh at VCU College of Medicine, to bring the goals of National Student Program in alignment with those of our individual chapters.

Keep on fighting the good fight!

PHR has sadly received word of the untimely death of Student Advisory Board Member Sujal Parikh.

Sujal, a student at the University of Michigan Medical School, was spending a year in Kampala, Uganda, as a Fogarty Fellow doing long-term research with children with HIV, after which he would have returned to UM for his 4th year. His death is a great loss for the health and human rights movement.

UM’s Center for Global Health says: “We are heartbroken as we inform you of the passing of our dear friend Sujal Parikh, an exemplary human being and colleague. Among other accomplishments and honors, Sujal was a member of our internal advisory committee and a CGH awardee for several initiatives. All of us at CGH benefited immensely from his advice and from his example of humble service to global health. Although his life was cut so short, his achievements were many and he touched and enlightened many lives.”

Sujal was the 2009 recipient of PHR’s Emerging Leader Award, presented at the 2009 National Student Conference, in recognition of his dedication to human rights advocacy. Sujal’s untimely death is a loss not only for those who knew and loved him but for the thousands whose lives his work would have doubtless touched as a leading human rights activist.

PHR sincerely congratulates the Dartmouth Chapter for their dedication to educating and mobilizing their campus around human rights issues. The Chapter was recently honored for their bold social justice and human rights work – which PHR learned about when we received a $500 donation associated with the prize!

From Dartmouth Medicine:

The Dartmouth Medical School chapter of Physicians for Human Rights received Dartmouth College’s Martin Luther King Social Justice Award for a student group. The award was accepted by the leaders of the chapter, Katherine Ratzan, a fourth-year M.D. student, and Alexandra Coria, a second-year M.D. student.

Katie Ratzan has a long history with PHR. She interned with Sarah Kalloch in 2004-2005, before entering medical school. She served on the Student Advisory Board (SAB) and has been a leader in helping other students introduce health and human rights education (HHRE) to their med school curriculum. Katie will soon begin a Pediatrics residency at the University of Michigan.

Alexandra Coria was recently chosen to join the SAB. Last year she served as a Regional Training Coordinator.

Through activities such as their recent panel on health, human rights, and the environment, Alexandra, Katie, and the other remarkable members of the Dartmouth Chapter have increased awareness and scrutiny of important human rights issues and broadened the audience for PHR’s investigations. PHR’s mission begins with the “mobilization” of health professionals, students and the community, and education like this precedes action. Student Chapters are a critical link between PHR’s work, the public’s demands for change, and policy responses that can put an end to human rights abuses.

PHR sincerely congratulates the Dartmouth Chapter for their dedication to educating and mobilizing their campus around human rights issues. The Chapter was recently honored for their bold social justice and human rights work – which PHR learned about when we received a $500 donation associated with the prize!

From Dartmouth Medicine:

The Dartmouth Medical School chapter of Physicians for Human Rights received Dartmouth College’s Martin Luther King Social Justice Award for a student group. The award was accepted by the leaders of the chapter, Katherine Ratzan, a fourth-year M.D. student, and Alexandra Coria, a second-year M.D. student.

Katie Ratzan has a long history with PHR. She interned with Sarah Kalloch in 2004-2005, before entering medical school. She served on the Student Advisory Board (SAB) and has been a leader in helping other students introduce health and human rights education (HHRE) to their med school curriculum. Katie will soon begin a Pediatrics residency at the University of Michigan.

Alexandra Coria was recently chosen to join the SAB. Last year she served as a Regional Training Coordinator.

Through activities such as their recent panel on health, human rights, and the environment, Alexandra, Katie, and the other remarkable members of the Dartmouth Chapter have increased awareness and scrutiny of important human rights issues and broadened the audience for PHR’s investigations. PHR’s mission begins with the “mobilization” of health professionals, students and the community, and education like this precedes action. Student Chapters are a critical link between PHR’s work, the public’s demands for change, and policy responses that can put an end to human rights abuses.

Congratulations to the new Student Advisory Board members!

• Alexandra Coria, M3, Dartmouth Medical School
• Lakshmi Krishnan, M2, John Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Mona Singh, M3, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Shaheja Sitafwalla, M2, Rush Medical College
• Fiona Somers, M3, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine

They will join these continuing SAB members:

• Jake Imber, M4, University of Kansas Medical Center
• Aliza Norwood, M4, University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio
• Sujal Parikh will be doing a Fogarty Fellowship in Uganda before returning to the University of Michigan Medical School for his fourth year.

PHR would like to sincerely thank the graduating SAB members who have devoted so much time, critical thought, and energy to the ongoing improvement of the National Student Program:

• Ali Khan, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University has matched in Internal Medicine at Yale University.
• Saranya Kurapati, Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine will pursue a Master’s degree at Harvard.
• Katie Ratzan, Dartmouth Medical School has matched in Pediatrics at the University of Michigan.
• Sohil Sud, Tufts University School of Medicine has matched in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Are you interested in demonstrating your leadership in PHR? Apply now to become a Regional Chapter Mentor or a Regional Training Coordinator.

Have five minutes to help right now? Fill out an evalution survey for the 2009-2010 National Student Program.

Want to provide national leadership to PHR’s National Student Program? Apply to join the PHR Student Advisory Board (SAB)!

The SAB is a national board of 7 or 8 students. The role of a Student Advisory Board member is:

1. to serve as a liaison to student chapters within a certain geographic region, and
2. to provide strategic and operational advice to the mission and direction of the National Student Program.

An SAB member is expected to be engaged in the development of the Student Program by completing his/her assigned duties, maintaining open lines of communication, and actively seeking areas for improvement in the National Program. These expectations include:

1. attendance at a Student Advisory Board retreat in early July,
2. attendance and involvement in the Student National Conference in early 2011, and
3. participation in monthly conference calls (with a maximum of three missed over the course of the year).

Please apply only if you feel you can meet these commitments. Other leadership roles are available for students who are not on the SAB, including Regional Mentors.

The application must be submitted to phr.sab[at]gmail[dot]com no later than Tuesday, March 29, 2010. Those selected for an interview will be contacted by Friday, April 2. Interviews will take place by phone or in person.

Questions? Please contact Jake Imber at jimber[at]kumc[dot]edu.

Please consider applying to the SAB. Your leadership can shape the course of PHR’s National Student Program.