The Institute will address a number of topics that are relevant to students: the research and advocacy of PHR, how students can contribute, the resources available to Chapters (like the new Toolkits), and the new online community (everyone in your Chapter should register!). This weekend, the Midwestern Regional Advocacy Institute took place in Chicago, and they covered a lot of the same topics. Chapters from all over the Midwest connected and shared resources, ideas, and plans.

For me, the most prominent issue is Health and Human Rights Education (HHRE), which Jake already identified as our number one priority for the year. We need to identify ways to implement HHRE, provide support for our chapter leaders as they spearhead curricular initiatives, and ultimately come up with an evidence base for the importance of HHRE in medical education.

HHRE initiatives could range from health and human rights electives (something that we are currently implementing at my school, as part of the preclinical public health course) to colloquia on human rights and justice issues as they pertain to health. Health and human rights issues could also be incorporated into academic inquiry – as medical students, our research, whether basic sciences, translational, clinical, public health, or something else, would only be enriched by an awareness and understanding of human rights issues. I could go on ad infinitum about the benefits of HHRE, but I’ll end for now.

At the Institute, I look forward to collaborating with other Mid-Atlantic and Southern chapters, and working with fellow SABer Mona Singh at VCU College of Medicine, to bring the goals of National Student Program in alignment with those of our individual chapters.

Keep on fighting the good fight!

Check out the new GHWA Toolkit for more information.

This year we’re encouraging chapters to focus their GHWA on the global health workforce crisis and the 2010 Global HEALTH Act, which will be introduced soon in the House of Representatives. You can raise awareness about the need for more health workers and better health systems in developing countries, and then take steps to address that need.

The first step: set your Global Health Week of Action date. Because April 7, 2010, is World Health Day, April 4-10 is the official week of action date. If you need to move the date because of spring break or campus calendars, go for it – just try to stay within 2-3 weeks of this date.

Please refer to the GHWA Toolkit to find resources for planning a successful week of events! The Toolkit includes an Issue and Action Guide, ideas for great events, suggestions on how to fundraise and publicize, and resources to share with your community.

We hope these resources – along with your creativity, energy, and education and advocacy skills – will help ensure that your GHWA has real impact.

Want more support? That’s what we’re here for. Email Hope O’Brien anytime at hobrien[at]phrusa[dot]org.

Each of us, over 120 students and faculty from 43 US and International PHR Chapters, brought our own reasons for pursuing health and human rights education, and we all returned to different situations at our schools. We came together for one day to inspire others with our successes, share solutions to our challenges, and generate the energy that will sustain our work to advance Health and Human Rights Education (HHRE).

The day was designed to provide inspiration, resources, and skill-building. It began with PHR Board Chair Dr. Robert Lawrence’s compelling opening keynote, which offered participants an historical context, challenged them to approach obstacles from more than one angle, and inspired them with a sense of what might be possible. Panels and strategy sessions with HHRE pioneers and student-led workshops followed. Students inspired one another in the Education in Action Expo. The closing session, a Town Hall meeting with Rep. Jim McGovern, co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, sustained the day’s momentum with his straightforward take on promoting and protecting human rights.

I hope that you all left the Conference with concrete plans for introducing or improving HHRE at your schools. I was so impressed by the plans you shared at the end of the day.

How can PHR support your plans? Take a look at the HHRE Toolkit – either online or in the CD in your Conference Packet. Your Chapter will be contacted twice in the next couple of months by the Student Advisory Board to help you can take advantage of PHR’s network of support as you advance HHRE at your school.

We’ll also work with you to create tools for your Chapter (like the Regional Hubs) to gather useful information and share it with other Chapters. And we will soon share resources for April’s Global Health Week of Action to help engage people in your Chapter’s vision of HHRE!

Initiatives could include:

• Offering a new elective
• Persuading professors to devote a class session to human rights
• Helping professors integrate human rights into discussions of other topics
• Dedicating a journal club meeting to human rights literature
• Inviting a human rights advocate to speak at your school
• Demonstrating a commitment to the right to health through direct service

Don’t be bashful – your idea could be an inspiration for other schools!

Presenters will display their projects on posters during breakfast and lunch on the day of the conference. To be considered for the Expo, please email 300 words (or less) about your school’s human rights education to expo[at]phrusa[dot]org.

Don’t forget to ask your school if support is available for students who present at conferences.

Questions? Just contact me.

Initiatives could include:

• Offering a new elective
• Persuading professors to devote a class session to human rights
• Helping professors integrate human rights into discussions of other topics
• Dedicating a journal club meeting to human rights literature
• Inviting a human rights advocate to speak at your school
• Demonstrating a commitment to the right to health through direct service

Don’t be bashful – your idea could be an inspiration for other schools!

Presenters will display their projects on posters during breakfast and lunch on the day of the conference. To be considered for the Expo, please email 300 words (or less) about your school’s human rights education to expo[at]phrusa[dot]org.

Don’t forget to ask your school if support is available for students who present at conferences.

Questions? Just contact me.

• Helen Potts, PhD, Chief Program Officer of Health Programs, Physicians for Human Rights. Dr. Potts will speak about the Right to Health on a panel entitled “Human Rights and Health Education: Dueling Frameworks or Essential Integration?”
• Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH, Professor of Epidemiology, International Health and Health, Behavior and Society; Director of Johns Hopkins Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program. Dr. Beyrer will co-facilitate a Strategy Session entitled “Human Rights in Graduate Education.”
• Vincent Iacopino, MD, PhD, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School; Senior Medical Advisor to Physicians for Human Rights. Dr. Iacopino will co-lead the panel entitled “Human Rights and Health Education: Dueling Frameworks or Essential Integration?” and will speak about the urgency of incorporating a human rights approach in professional medical training.

The deadline to apply to the Conference is January 20, 2010, so start building a team from your chapter, and be sure to reach out to faculty members you would like to invite! Consult our Faculty Guide if you have any questions. We look forward to reading your application!

Who should attend the conference?
We hope that the majority of our National PHR chapters will attend, with two to three students and a faculty member or dean representing each school. We also welcome applications from medical students who may not have a PHR student chapter but are committed to furthering human rights education in their curriculum. Students are encouraged to apply online. If you are a Dean or faculty member and are interested in attending, email Sarah Kalloch, PHR Director of Outreach, at skalloch[at]phrusa[dot]org.

What will the conference include?
The National Conference will feature world-renowned speakers, panel discussions, strategy plenary sessions, skill development workshops and action planning sessions to address all aspects of integrating health and human rights into the health education field. The jam-packed day will provide information on the critical need to integrate health and human rights into education, strategies for incorporating quality human rights education in curriculum, as well as tangible skills and solutions to help lead your campus on this issue.

How does this conference differ from previous PHR National Student Conferences?
This year’s conference is the first of its kind. It will focus on empowering students and faculty to change the paradigm of medicine to one which embraces human rights through the incorporation of human rights in health professional education. We will bring together a select group of roughly 150 committed students and faculty members who plan to be the frontrunners of the curriculum change movement on their campuses. This select group will gain vital ideas, strategies, skills, and connections to make health and human rights education a reality for their student bodies.

What will I gain from attending?
The conference will provide an excellent opportunity to network and strategize with dedicated students, faculty members and Deans who strive to bring a greater understanding of human rights to their classrooms, and to meet experts in the human rights field who have dedicated their careers to furthering this cause. You will learn from and engage with student leaders around the country who are passionate about health and human rights in their education. You will also gain new insights on the health and human rights approach, tools to create electives at your school, valuable resources and connections, and tangible ideas for getting your campus involved to shape your own education and that of your peers.

How should I prepare to have the best conference experience?
If you are accepted to represent your chapter and/or campus, you will be called on to prepare a preliminary plan for a tangible educational-change project you would like to see on your campus. As the conference approaches, we will also give you a short reading assignment to help you prepare for some of the conference’s key topics.

Whether you are looking to improve a current project or proposing a new initiative for you school, we recommend you draw on our Health and Human Rights Education Toolkit for guidance and resources for your planning process.

Questions? Email us at conference[at]phrusa[dot]org.

Download a printable version of the National Conference FAQs (pdf).

(Cross-posted on the PHR Student Blog.)