Events
Western Regional International Health Conference
Background
The Western Regional International Health Conference started in November 2002 by a group of medical students at the University of Washington, School of Medicine's International Health Group, a student organization committed to bringing awareness to global health issues and supporting their medical student colleagues.
This event, which began as a student-inspired, student-run conference, now draws close to 1,000 students, faculty, staff, residents, and community members from the western half of the United States and Canada. Past keynote speakers have included Paul Farmer, Jim Yong Kim, Jeffrey Sachs, and Mirta Roses Periago.
The conference has been hosted every other year by the University of Washington, the home institution for the event, and typically travels to other western U.S. and Canadian institutions on alternate years. The conference organizing committees are made up of an interdisciplinary cross-section of undergraduates, graduate, and professional students who are committed to a pursuit of a career in global health, including nursing, medicine, social work, law, business, public health, dentistry, and pharmacy.
Current Conference
In 2010, the University of Washington will host the 8th Western Regional International Health Conference with the theme, “War and Global Health.” This event will be held on April 23-25, 2010. UW will be co-hosting the event with Physicians for Social Responsibility.
The purpose of this conference is to shift the perspective on global health to include war and armed conflict as one of the most significant—and preventable—threats to health around the world and provide tools for practitioners to act accordingly.
Specific goals include:
- To frame war prevention and reduction as a legitimate area of study and practice for those in the public health and medical fields.
- To advance the understanding among medical and public health students and practitioners of the health consequences of war, and share information and tools on how these groups can contribute to peace building and mitigate the effects of conflict.
- To develop new leaders in the medical and public health fields committed to war prevention and reduction.
Past Conferences and Themes
November 2002: University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Theme: “1st Western Regional International Health Conference”
Keynote: Dr. William Foege, Fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Former Executive Director of the Carter Center
February 2004: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Theme: "Bringing International Health Home"
Keynote: Dr. Victor W. Sidel, Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York
February 2005: University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Theme: "Politics, Social Justice, and Global Health"
Keynote: Dr. Mirta Roses Periago, Regional Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
February 2006: Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR
Theme: "Health, Human Rights and Economics: The Value of Human Life"
Keynote: Jeffrey Sachs, PhD., an economist and Director of the United Nations Millennium Project (live video address)
February 2007: University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Theme: "Global Health Through Different Lenses: Reflections, Perspectives, and Visions for the Future"
Keynote: Dr. Jim Yong Kim, Professor of Medicine and Social Medicine and Chair of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Co-founder of Partners in Health
Video: “The Golden Age of Global Health: An Ethnology in Progress”
February 2008: Simon Fraser University/University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Theme: “Meeting the Challenge: the Millennium Development Goals and Beyond”
Keynotes: Dr. Samantha Nutt, FRCPC, Executive Director & Founder, War Child Canada and Dr. Julio Montaner, FRCPC, FCCP, Clinical Director, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Professor of Medicine, UBC
April 2009: Joint conference with the Global Health Education Consortium (GHEC), University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Theme: “Transcending Global Health Barriers: Education and Action”
Keynote: Harriet Fulbright, Director of the Fulbright Center
