In honor of National Public Health Week, which is April 1-7, the College of Health and Human Services Department of Public Health Sciences will host the presentation "Mission to Health: Gifts from the Poor" at 7 p.m., Monday, April 1, in the Student Union Movie Theater.
Glenn Geelhoed, a surgeon and educator, will be the featured speaker at this kick-off event. Geelhoed has has led medical students, residents and physicians on more than 200 health care missions to the developing world, including Africa, Asia, the South Pacific and South America. He is past president of the Washington Academy of Surgeons, an inductee of the Academie de Chirurgie de Paris, the 2006 recipient of the GWU Medical Center’s Faculty Distinguished Service Award, and in fall 2009, he received the American College of Surgeons’ Volunteerism Award for International Outreach.
“Gifts from the Poor,” authored by Geelhoed, was based upon his daily journals. The work chronicles his more than four decades of medical missions to the poorest parts of the globe to treat patients at no cost and train locals to dispense care. Through his experiences, Geelhoed observed lessons about human resilience and global interdependence, and his book describes how the rewards of helping those less fortunate can enrich the whole planet.
A book signing and reception will follow this free, public presentation, which was cosponsored by the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) Department of Public Health Sciences, the Levine Scholars Program and the CHHS Internationalization Committee.
Additional information about National Public Health Week activities are available online.