Public Health Heroes Awards Ceremony

For advancing public health in the face of global shortages in the health care workforce, particularly in the world's most poverty-stricken, remote, and dangerous environments

International Medical Corps (IMC) is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, IMC rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.

IMC was founded by Dr. Robert Simon, who, as a young emergency-room physician at UCLA Medical Center, was moved to take action after reading of the tragic plight of the Afghan people as a result of the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent occupation. The establishment of IMC boldly declared the emergence of a new kind of relief agency. IMC worked in areas where few agencies dared to go. In addition, by providing health care through training, IMC challenged—indeed, changed—the very definition of relief.

Accepting the award on behalf of IMC is Nancy A. Aossey. Aossey joined IMC as president and CEO in 1986 and has led the organization since. By 1990, IMC had graduated more than 200 medics who helped establish 57 clinics and 10 hospitals in 18 provinces throughout rural Afghanistan—serving more than 50,000 patients per month.

Aossey has led IMC in providing life-saving care in more than 45 countries worldwide, responding to the world’s most devastating man-made and natural disasters, including famine in Somalia, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, the Rwandan genocide, and atrocities against children in Sierra Leone. More recently, IMC was a first responder after the 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia, the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, responded domestically following Hurricane Katrina, and is among the dwindling number of humanitarian agencies still working in Darfur and Iraq.

Award Presenter Mark S. Smolinski, M.D., M.P.H.

Mark Smolinski is in charge of predicting and preventing disease and drought as part of the global public health team at Google.org. He is a CDC-trained epidemiologist who worked previously as senior program officer with the Institute of Medicine and study director for microbial threats to health: emergence, detection, and response. Prior to that he was a vice president at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, where he worked on a regional disease surveillance system. He was a member of the investigation team during the Hantavirus discovery in the South-western United States.

The Challenge: Improving Health Care in Poverty-Stricken Environments

When health crises occur in developing countries—war, natural disasters, famine, or spreading disease—a quick response can be crucial to providing lifesaving care to vulnerable populations and helping them achieve self-reliance. When disaster strikes, the time to reach out is not measured in weeks or days. The most critical period for saving lives is during the hours immediately after the event. Public health professionals who intervene in times of crises should be highly flexible, experienced, skilled in emergency medicine, and well connected with local communities.

While man-made and natural disasters have a devastating impact on developing countries, crises such as Hurricane Katrina in the United States illustrate that all populations—and especially poverty-stricken populations—are vulnerable. Relief agencies like International Medical Corps are not only responsive but also preventative—working to ensure that basic services are accessible to vulnerable populations and that their health care professionals receive the education and training they need to care for their communities far into the future.

The UC Berkeley School of Public Health Responds

In response to the looming public health workforce shortage—a crisis that was determined to be critical in a recent Association of Schools of Public Health report—the School is positioned to double enrollment in the near future. This will help meet the demand for more trained health professionals locally and globally.
Malcolm Potts, Bixby Professor of Population and Family Planning, and his team have worked to help women in Afghanistan and other countries in Africa and Asia that were war-torn after bloody conflicts. They have studied relationships between rapid population growth, civil conflict, and terrorism, finding that terrorists are most likely to come from countries where birth rates are high, family planning is hard to obtain, and women have little power.
The Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness offers free and affordable training to frontline public health workers in emergency operations planning, field epidemiology, and infection control to prepare for natural disasters, epidemics, and bioterrorism.
The Human Rights Center investigates war crimes and other serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Adjunct Professor Eric Stover, who directs the center, specializes in medical and social consequences of war and justice and reconstruction in the aftermath of mass violence. He has traveled to Iraq to investigate human rights conditions in the war-torn country, and also evaluated the efficacy of tsunami relief funds.


2008 Organizational Hero - International Medical Corps.		Related Links Webcast: Nancy Aossey speaks at UC Berkeley IMC web site
For advancing public health in the face of global shortages in the health care workforce, particularly in the world's most poverty-stricken, remote, and dangerous environments International Medical Corps (IMC) is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, IMC rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance. IMC was founded by Dr. Robert Simon, who, as a young emergency-room physician at UCLA Medical Center, was moved to take action after reading of the tragic plight of the Afghan people as a result of the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent occupation. The establishment of IMC boldly declared the emergence of a new kind of relief agency. IMC worked in areas where few agencies dared to go. In addition, by providing health care through training, IMC challenged—indeed, changed—the very definition of relief. Accepting the award on behalf of IMC is Nancy A. Aossey. Aossey joined IMC as president and CEO in 1986 and has led the organization since. By 1990, IMC had graduated more than 200 medics who helped establish 57 clinics and 10 hospitals in 18 provinces throughout rural Afghanistan—serving more than 50,000 patients per month. Aossey has led IMC in providing life-saving care in more than 45 countries worldwide, responding to the world’s most devastating man-made and natural disasters, including famine in Somalia, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, the Rwandan genocide, and atrocities against children in Sierra Leone. More recently, IMC was a first responder after the 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia, the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, responded domestically following Hurricane Katrina, and is among the dwindling number of humanitarian agencies still working in Darfur and Iraq. Award Presenter Mark S. Smolinski, M.D., M.P.H. Mark Smolinski is in charge of predicting and preventing disease and drought as part of the global public health team at Google.org. He is a CDC-trained epidemiologist who worked previously as senior program officer with the Institute of Medicine and study director for microbial threats to health: emergence, detection, and response. Prior to that he was a vice president at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, where he worked on a regional disease surveillance system. He was a member of the investigation team during the Hantavirus discovery in the South-western United States. The Challenge: Improving Health Care in Poverty-Stricken Environments When health crises occur in developing countries—war, natural disasters, famine, or spreading disease—a quick response can be crucial to providing lifesaving care to vulnerable populations and helping them achieve self-reliance. When disaster strikes, the time to reach out is not measured in weeks or days. The most critical period for saving lives is during the hours immediately after the event. Public health professionals who intervene in times of crises should be highly flexible, experienced, skilled in emergency medicine, and well connected with local communities. While man-made and natural disasters have a devastating impact on developing countries, crises such as Hurricane Katrina in the United States illustrate that all populations—and especially poverty-stricken populations—are vulnerable. Relief agencies like International Medical Corps are not only responsive but also preventative—working to ensure that basic services are accessible to vulnerable populations and that their health care professionals receive the education and training they need to care for their communities far into the future. The UC Berkeley School of Public Health Responds In response to the looming public health workforce shortage—a crisis that was determined to be critical in a recent Association of Schools of Public Health report—the School is positioned to double enrollment in the near future. This will help meet the demand for more trained health professionals locally and globally. Malcolm Potts, Bixby Professor of Population and Family Planning, and his team have worked to help women in Afghanistan and other countries in Africa and Asia that were war-torn after bloody conflicts. They have studied relationships between rapid population growth, civil conflict, and terrorism, finding that terrorists are most likely to come from countries where birth rates are high, family planning is hard to obtain, and women have little power. The Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness offers free and affordable training to frontline public health workers in emergency operations planning, field epidemiology, and infection control to prepare for natural disasters, epidemics, and bioterrorism. The Human Rights Center investigates war crimes and other serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Adjunct Professor Eric Stover, who directs the center, specializes in medical and social consequences of war and justice and reconstruction in the aftermath of mass violence. He has traveled to Iraq to investigate human rights conditions in the war-torn country, and also evaluated the efficacy of tsunami relief funds.