Okay I decided to return from my hiatus. After coming back from Uganda, I returned to school super duper ready to do things. A lot happened in the last few months. I got to spend some time at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and was able to join in the conversation about how to define this new academic field of global health as well as the role students play in global health in general. Got to sit and talk with Wafaa El-Sadr. I helped run Millennium Campus Conference, which united near 1,000 to talk about the MDGs. I met also Nick Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn for a second.
I got to attend TEDxChange, a collaboration between TED and the Gates Foundation. The event was in honor of the UN MDG Summit happening in NYC that weekend. Many inspiring speakers : The Condom Man was particularly hilarious; Melinda Gates talked about Coke; I expected better from Hans Rosling, but he is still one of my favorites. If I probably wasn’t spending so much time enjoying the free fancy foods at the reception, I may have paid more attention and met more people in the room, such as Jacqueline Novogratz (I quoted her here earlier). Well…I did make a point to meet every speaker, including Melinda Gates. What a nice lady.
Mechai stood out, because of sense of humor and pictures of condom blowing competitions and hair accessories, but also because of his message. Social change and better health come from grassroots social movements.
They did a photo campaign.
Now, I’m back at school and doing lots of GlobeMed stuff. I love the new group and am so excited for everything we are going to do!!! Keep your eyes out for a new GlobeMed at Columbia blog!
