​I was thrilled to see how successful Harvard Medical School's first Citizen Physicians event was! They invited Dr. Ira Helfand, co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and co-Founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility to speak to the over thirty students in attendance from all four classes of the medical school. He gave an engaging presentation on how advocacy as health professionals has a significant impact on international discourse, focussing on his work around nuclear disarmament. He discussed how resident physicians originally started these organizations as a journal club, but worked to grow them into a Nobel Peace Prize winning organization in only 6 years. Students left inspired hearing from a physician who was able to walk them through his journey of affecting change on an issue he felt passionately about.
Thank you to Dayton McMillan (MS1), a founding member of HMS's Citizen Physicians chapter for organizing such a wonderful event and thank you to Andreas Mitchell (MS2), HMS Citizen Physicians' founding chapter president for doing such a great job getting these initiatives off the ground.
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Post Author: Aaron Shapiro, medical student at Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Founder and Executive Director of Citizen Physicians.