PHR Student Program Mid-Atlantic Regional Hub

This week, students across the US will use the new National Action Toolkit to educate their communities about why patients are denied access to life-sustaining medicines and lead their communities to take action. Join PHR and Chapters across the US in advocating for better access to essential medicines in resource-poor settings through UNITAID’s new Medicine Patent Pool. Our new National Action Toolkit offers analysis, resources to educate your community, and easy advocacy projects. This week of action spans from World AIDS Day (December 1) to International Human Rights Day (December 10). This National Action is dedicated to our friend and colleague, Sujal Parikh, in recognition of his leadership in this area. Let us know about your Chapter’s National Action! Send the National Student Program Coordinator, Hope O’Brien, an update with photos and flyers, and we’ll feature your Chapter on the blog.

Welcome – or welcome back – to PHR! I hope that you have had satisfying and safe summers, and that you’re returning to school or starting your next adventure renewed and ready to go. This summer the PHR National Student Program has been busy developing materials and planning events for you to use this year.

Attend a Regional Advocacy Institute

Regional Advocacy Institutes are free day-long workshops where you will meet other PHR chapters, learn about PHR’s work and develop the advocacy skills you need to work alongside PHR to demand health, dignity and justice. We’re pleased to announce the dates and locations of this fall’s Institutes:

• October 23, 2010 in Chicago, IL
• November 13, 2010 in Baltimore, MD
• December 4, 2010 in Boston, MA

I’ll soon email you to invite you to sign up. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with other students and develop your ability to advocate for health and human rights.

Visit our new website for new tools

Today, we’re launching a new website to make it easy to use the resources we develop for you. You’ll find a new Student Chapter Toolkit to help you establish and manage your Chapter, materials to recruit new members, reports about PHR’s human rights research, and ideas for events, actions, and advocacy.

Create your profile and register your chapter

You may have already created or updated your profile and registered your Chapter. Chapters must register every year. If so – thank you! If not – here’s your chance! Registration allows you to connect with other students, residents, and faculty, to share ideas and resources. Update your profile to tell the community more about you.

Start a new Chapter

If you’re interested in starting a new Chapter, please register and let us know! I will also host Chapter Development sessions to meet students interested in starting new Chapters in Seattle, San Francisco, and Palo Alto. Let me know if you’re interested!

Get ready for a National Action

Three times a year, Chapters coordinate their advocacy on a single urgent issue, such as last April’s Global Health Week of Action. PHR Chapters, residents, young health professionals, and faculty join together to raise awareness on their campus and lead targeted advocacy. It’s a powerful way to get our legislators’ attention. The first National Action will take place this October – look for information soon!

In the year ahead, please use the PHR National Student Program resources and community for whatever cause or campaign that appeals to you personally and professionally.

Welcome – or welcome back – to PHR! I hope that you have had satisfying and safe summers, and that you’re returning to school or starting your next adventure renewed and ready to go. This summer the PHR National Student Program has been busy developing materials and planning events for you to use this year.

Attend a Regional Advocacy Institute

Regional Advocacy Institutes are free day-long workshops where you will meet other PHR chapters, learn about PHR’s work and develop the advocacy skills you need to work alongside PHR to demand health, dignity and justice. We’re pleased to announce the dates and locations of this fall’s Institutes:

• October 23, 2010 in Chicago, IL
• November 13, 2010 in Baltimore, MD
• December 4, 2010 in Boston, MA

I’ll soon email you to invite you to sign up. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with other students and develop your ability to advocate for health and human rights.

Visit our new website for new tools

Today, we’re launching a new website to make it easy to use the resources we develop for you. You’ll find a new Student Chapter Toolkit to help you establish and manage your Chapter, materials to recruit new members, reports about PHR’s human rights research, and ideas for events, actions, and advocacy.

Create your profile and register your chapter

You may have already created or updated your profile and registered your Chapter. Chapters must register every year. If so – thank you! If not – here’s your chance! Registration allows you to connect with other students, residents, and faculty, to share ideas and resources. Update your profile to tell the community more about you.

Start a new Chapter

If you’re interested in starting a new Chapter, please register and let us know! I will also host Chapter Development sessions to meet students interested in starting new Chapters in Seattle, San Francisco, and Palo Alto. Let me know if you’re interested!

Get ready for a National Action

Three times a year, Chapters coordinate their advocacy on a single urgent issue, such as last April’s Global Health Week of Action. PHR Chapters, residents, young health professionals, and faculty join together to raise awareness on their campus and lead targeted advocacy. It’s a powerful way to get our legislators’ attention. The first National Action will take place this October – look for information soon!

In the year ahead, please use the PHR National Student Program resources and community for whatever cause or campaign that appeals to you personally and professionally.

PHR sincerely congratulates the Dartmouth Chapter for their dedication to educating and mobilizing their campus around human rights issues. The Chapter was recently honored for their bold social justice and human rights work – which PHR learned about when we received a $500 donation associated with the prize!

From Dartmouth Medicine:

The Dartmouth Medical School chapter of Physicians for Human Rights received Dartmouth College’s Martin Luther King Social Justice Award for a student group. The award was accepted by the leaders of the chapter, Katherine Ratzan, a fourth-year M.D. student, and Alexandra Coria, a second-year M.D. student.

Katie Ratzan has a long history with PHR. She interned with Sarah Kalloch in 2004-2005, before entering medical school. She served on the Student Advisory Board (SAB) and has been a leader in helping other students introduce health and human rights education (HHRE) to their med school curriculum. Katie will soon begin a Pediatrics residency at the University of Michigan.

Alexandra Coria was recently chosen to join the SAB. Last year she served as a Regional Training Coordinator.

Through activities such as their recent panel on health, human rights, and the environment, Alexandra, Katie, and the other remarkable members of the Dartmouth Chapter have increased awareness and scrutiny of important human rights issues and broadened the audience for PHR’s investigations. PHR’s mission begins with the “mobilization” of health professionals, students and the community, and education like this precedes action. Student Chapters are a critical link between PHR’s work, the public’s demands for change, and policy responses that can put an end to human rights abuses.

Response has been strong to the invitation to apply to serve as a Regional Chapter Mentor or a Regional Training Coordinator.

Because it is such a busy time of year, and to give all interested students enough time to apply, we’re extending the application deadline by one week to May 31, 2010.

If you’re interested in drawing on your experience, insight, and creativity to inform the work of other Chapters in your region— Northeast, Midwest, West, South, and Mid-Atlantic — and to strengthen the National Student Program, please consider applying.

Visit the original post for more information and to download the application forms.

Congratulations to the new Student Advisory Board members!

• Alexandra Coria, M3, Dartmouth Medical School
• Lakshmi Krishnan, M2, John Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Mona Singh, M3, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Shaheja Sitafwalla, M2, Rush Medical College
• Fiona Somers, M3, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine

They will join these continuing SAB members:

• Jake Imber, M4, University of Kansas Medical Center
• Aliza Norwood, M4, University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio
• Sujal Parikh will be doing a Fogarty Fellowship in Uganda before returning to the University of Michigan Medical School for his fourth year.

PHR would like to sincerely thank the graduating SAB members who have devoted so much time, critical thought, and energy to the ongoing improvement of the National Student Program:

• Ali Khan, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University has matched in Internal Medicine at Yale University.
• Saranya Kurapati, Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine will pursue a Master’s degree at Harvard.
• Katie Ratzan, Dartmouth Medical School has matched in Pediatrics at the University of Michigan.
• Sohil Sud, Tufts University School of Medicine has matched in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Are you interested in demonstrating your leadership in PHR? Apply now to become a Regional Chapter Mentor or a Regional Training Coordinator.

Have five minutes to help right now? Fill out an evalution survey for the 2009-2010 National Student Program.

To be increasingly responsive, innovative, and effective at the regional level, PHR’s National Student Program needs one more thing:

You.

Please consider applying to become a Regional Chapter Mentor or a Regional Training Coordinator.

Both Regional Chapter Mentors and Regional Training Coordinators will work with Chapters in their region ­­­­— Northeast, Midwest, West, South, and Mid-Atlantic — to strengthen the National Student Program and improve their region’s experience and impact.

Regional Chapter Mentors offer critical peer-to-peer support, advice, and problem-solving assistance to their region’s student Chapters, and help student Chapter leaders advance their Chapter development and activities. Regional Chapter Mentors provide the personal communication and online presence to ensure the chapters feel supported, appreciated, and connected to one another and to the National Student Program.

Regional Training Coordinators ensure that PHR’s National Student Program offers effective trainings in health and human rights advocacy. Regional Training Coordinators work with the National Student Program Coordinator to plan, run, and follow up on an engaging Regional Advocacy Institute. Therefore, the bulk of the work will be done August through November. Regional Training Coordinators will also support the regional community by supporting PHR’s direct communication and online presence.

Use your creativity, sense of humor, ability to organize, and dedication to human rights to serve as a liaison between your region’s Chapters, the PHR offices in Cambridge, and the halls of legislature.

Please complete the following applications and send them to applications[at]phrusa[dot]org by Monday, May 24 Monday, May 31. You can also contact me with any questions!

Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

This week the theme of the PHR Student Blog is student leadership and strengthening your PHR Chapter.

Fundraising — now, over the summer, or early into the next school year — can help your PHR Chapter get off to a strong start next fall. Some students have told us that being short on funds interfered with hosting events. If you’d like to raise some money, PHR is here to help.

Some of the most popular methods are listed in the Fundraising section of the Chapter Toolkit:

• Grants: Research tools include Foundation Search or searching for “[your city]” or “[your state]” and the word “foundation.” Grants may be available on your campus. Follow the directions carefully, and if the grant offers TA (technical assistance), go ahead and call to ask for help.
• Ticketed events: You could host a gala, a dessert tasting, or a talk by an esteemed professor.
• Almost famous: Local celebrities can attract considerable attention. Consider a cocktail reception, a speech, a dunking booth, or a car wash.
• Sponsorship: Remember grade school bowl-a-thons? Ask supporters to sponsor something new: a stair climb in the tallest building on campus, a bike- or walk-a-thon, or a penny for every mile you’re traveling this summer to practice your clinical skills.
• Raffles or silent auctions: Put together a couple of big-ticket items and some fun theme packages and gift certificates.

The Toolkit reveals one of the big secrets to raising money: Don’t be afraid to ask. Try to remember that friends and family like to be involved in the causes that you support, and this is a good way for them to contribute. Local businesses like to be associated with student activities. Build relationships over time so that you feel relaxed about asking and the donor enjoys the chance to help and will want to give again.

Still nervous about asking? Tell yourself, “They won’t give unless I ask.”

What has your Chapter done to raise money? Share your ideas in the comments section below. And email me at hobrien[at]phrusa[dot]org for more ideas and support.

Stay tuned! Tomorrow I’ll outline opportunities for student leadership in your region and announce the new Student Advisory Board.

The National Student Program’s main purpose is to strengthen Chapters’ advocacy and education skills and support the Chapters’ connection to PHR’s human rights work. As the school year draws to a close, the PHR National Student Program is considering how to make next year better, and we need your help. Take a moment to fill out an evalution survey for the 2009-2010 National Student Program.

Please complete the appropriate survey. Chapter Leaders, you do not need to fill out the evaluation survey for All Students, only your own. Many thanks!

• All Students
• Chapter Leaders

Your response will enable us to provide the skill-building, educational materials, and advocacy opportunities that you want and need.

Thank you for all you’ve done this year with
PHR!

Later this week, more about student leadership and strengthening your PHR Chapter for next fall:

• Putting the Fun into Fundraising for a Strong Start Next Fall
• Opportunities for Student Leadership in Your Region

Stay tuned!

This week on the PHR Student Blog we’re talking about student leadership and strengthening your PHR Chapter for next fall.

First order of business: selecting new leadership for your Chapter. Chapter Leaders offer their Chapter vision and direction, while also taking care of the logistics, relationships, and finances for Chapter activities. Your Chapter may have already chosen Chapter Leaders for 2010-2011 — If not, now is the time!

Once you’ve chosen your leaders, please let us know. Email hobrien[at]phrusa[dot]org with the leaders’ names, year of graduation, and contact information — email addresses, phone numbers, and the best address to mail packages to.

I want to offer my sincere thanks to the outgoing leaders and all PHR members who are entering residency or graduating and moving on. The PHR National Student Program is sustained by your passion for protecting and promoting human rights, your dedication to educating others, and your willingness to speak up to end injustice. Please stay involved with PHR and continue to fight for your convictions in the years to come.

Later this week:

• Finals Getting to You? Help PHR Make the Grade.
• Putting the Fun into Fundraising for a Strong Start Next Fall
• Opportunities for Student Leadership in Your Region

Stay tuned!