Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century

Speaker:

James Orbinski

11 Nov 2008

8:00 PM

Great Hall, Memorial Union

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Dr. James Orbinski is a humanitarian advocate and former president of the world's largest independent medical humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders, for which he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. He offers firsthand testimony from the front lines in Peru, Somalia and Afghanistan as well as a compelling look at the ravages of genocide and civil war and the role of humanitarianism. He is the founder and president of Dignitas International, an NGO launched to research and provide community-based care for people living with HIV in the developing world. He is currently a research scientist and associate professor of family and community medicine and political science at St. Michael's Hospital at the University of Toronto and the author of An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action for the 21st Century. Humanitarian groups and student organizations will have tables with information, sign-up sheets, and displays before and after the lecture. Part of the World Affairs Series: Why Should We Care?

An audio tape of this presentation will not be available.

---- This lecture was made possible in part by the generosity of F. Wendell Miller, who left his entire estate jointly to Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. Mr. Miller, who died in 1995 at age 97, was born in Altoona, Illinois, grew up in Rockwell City, graduated from Grinnell College and Harvard Law School and practiced law in Des Moines and Chicago before returning to Rockwell City to manage his family's farm holdings and to practice law. His will helped to establish the F. Wendell Miller Trust, the annual earnings on which, in part, helped to support this activity.