7:00 p.m. Thursday, April 30, 2009
In recognition of its founding members, the Georgian Triangle Lifelong Learning
Institute is honoured to present a passionately committed individual and
compelling speaker.
Dr. James Orbinski
is a Canadian physician, writer and humanitarian
activist. While President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), he
accepted the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to MSF for its pioneering
approach to medical humanitarianism. In 1997, Dr. Orbinski received
the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Cross, Canada’s highest
civilian award, for his work as the MSF Head of Mission in Rwanda
during the 1994 civil war. He is presently a research scientist
at St. Michael's Hospital, Associate Professor of Political
Science at the University of Toronto,
and a Senior Fellow at
Massey College and the Munk Centre
for International Studies.
Dr. Orbinski’ s commitment to global health and to medical humanitarianism
in war and social crisis has brought him to many of the world’s embattled
zones and in contact with great human suffering and courage. He is a
founder and president of Dignitas International,
a medical humanitarian
organization working with communities to improve access to life-saving
treatment and prevention in areas overwhelmed by HIV/AIDS.
Last year, Dr. Orbinski published his first book, "An
Imperfect Offering:
Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century". On March 4, 2009
this non-fiction book, that
chronicles his experiences in Rwanda and Somalia in 1994,
won the $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing
(click
here to read the full story at www.cbc.ca).
