PHR Student Blog

Saturday’s National Conference was packed with memorable moments. Fortunately, many of these moments were broadcast on Twitter by PHR’s Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin. We’ve collected some of our favorite tweets from Dr. Robert Lawrence’s keynote address, a panel on Health and Human Rights Education, and the closing town hall with Rep. Jim McGovern. Follow us at phrTweets!

Keynote: Dr. Robert Lawrence

As one of PHR’s original founders and our current Board chair, Dr. Lawrence offers unique insight into the vision and purpose of PHR.

1. 
   phrTweets Dr. Bob Lawrence opens
   #phred conference on medicine and human rights education now at BU School of Medicine; pays homage to Carl Taylor 20 Feb 2010
2. 
   phrTweets Dr. Lawrence I was history major in 1959 studying #south africa under apartheid; no faculy to advise on thesis http://bit.ly/cGePmt 20 Feb 2010
3. 
   phrTweets “What do you do when you’re 20 years old and no one interested in your topic? You take your thesis and wrap it in front page of NYTimes” 20 Feb 2010
4. 
   phrTweets Dr. Lawrence, “You have to honor great people in history like Steve Biko and his wife, Dr. Mamphele Rampele…” #phrEd 20 Feb 2010
5. 
   phrTweets Lawrence “Those of you studying psychiatry, you know about denial.” Harvard tutor forgot he had opposed history thesis on apartheid #phrEd 20 Feb 2010
6. 
   phrTweets Lawrence to students: reframe issues, channel energy to engage in social issues while protecting time to be best clinician #phred 20 Feb 2010
7. 
   phrTweets Lawrence: Carola & Eleanor Roosevelt my heroes. Jack Geiger, who was first to look at social determinants of medicine in 1960s #phred 20 Feb 2010
8. 
   phrTweets Alma Ata conference principles of 1978 remain as true today as now. http://bit.ly/asdG5u 20 Feb 2010
9. 
   phrTweets Dr. Julius Richmond led US delegation to Alma Ata in 1978. Dr. Lawrence reminding med and ph students of important doc http://bit.ly/asdG5u 20 Feb 2010

  » Continue Reading »

Even after months of preparation, I wasn’t ready for the incredible energy at Saturday’s 2010 PHR National Conference, Health & Human Rights Education in 2010!

Each of us, over 120 students and faculty from 43 US and International PHR Chapters, brought our own reasons for pursuing health and human rights education, and we all returned to different situations at our schools. We came together for one day to inspire others with our successes, share solutions to our challenges, and generate the energy that will sustain our work to advance Health and Human Rights Education (HHRE).

The day was designed to provide inspiration, resources, and skill-building. It began with PHR Board Chair Dr. Robert Lawrence’s compelling opening keynote, which offered participants an historical context, challenged them to approach obstacles from more than one angle, and inspired them with a sense of what might be possible. Panels and strategy sessions with HHRE pioneers and student-led workshops followed. Students inspired one another in the Education in Action Expo. The closing session, a Town Hall meeting with Rep. Jim McGovern, co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, sustained the day’s momentum with his straightforward take on promoting and protecting human rights.

I hope that you all left the Conference with concrete plans for introducing or improving HHRE at your schools. I was so impressed by the plans you shared at the end of the day.

How can PHR support your plans? Take a look at the HHRE Toolkit – either online or in the CD in your Conference Packet. Your Chapter will be contacted twice in the next couple of months by the Student Advisory Board to help you can take advantage of PHR’s network of support as you advance HHRE at your school.

We’ll also work with you to create tools for your Chapter (like the Regional Hubs) to gather useful information and share it with other Chapters. And we will soon share resources for April’s Global Health Week of Action to help engage people in your Chapter’s vision of HHRE!