Martin Luther King Day 2023

Every year on Martin Luther King day, I like to read something of his. This year, I am reading and reflecting on excerpts from The Other America, a speech Martin Luther King gave in 1968. If you prefer to watch, here is the video. There are times, and I must confess it very honestly as … Read More

Thanksgiving Speech by Wamsutta (Frank B.) James, Wampanoag

ThanksgivingABOUT THE DOCUMENT: Three hundred fifty years after the Pilgrims began their invasion of the land of the Wampanoag, their “American” descendants planned an anniversary celebration. Still clinging to the white schoolbook myth of friendly relations between their forefathers and the Wampanoag, the anniversary planners thought it would be nice to have an Indian make an … Read More

Public health is activism! HIV activism!

A while back, I worked on developing a training for ICAP at Columbia University on training on the optimization of HIV treatments. Meaning, simply, that HIV treatment has to be effective, simple to take, and affordable.  We created a series of trainings for health care workers on new HIV medications. Check it out here if … Read More

Are you a jerk?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this article, No More Working For Jerks!, since I read it back in January.  My basic take-away is that there has been a shift between folks feeling an undying loyalty to an employer, even the jerks, to a realization that working for a jerk is just not worth it.  … Read More

Book Report: Giving

In 2007, former United States President Bill Clinton published Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World to give us a mandate for how to think about our charitable giving and how to make sure that we, every day people, contribute to big impacts.  If you’d like, watch this 15 minute interview with Clinton … Read More

Book Report: The Tipping Point

Perhaps this is less of a book report and more of my musings on The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. The premise of the book is that there are “the moment(s) of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point” and those moments can create widespread social changes that can become part of our everyday. So, … Read More

Bending the Arc

Bending the arc. It is a dreary day today in Seattle.  It’s great day to snuggle on the couch and watch an inspiring movie.  What movie you ask? Bending the Arc! The movie tells the story of Partners In Health, where I’ve worked for a total of about 6 years. It is an inspiring story, … Read More

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop

A speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivered April 1968, Mason Temple, Memphis, Tennessee Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It’s always good to have your closest friend and associate to … Read More

Goodbye 2021, Hello 2022!

What a year it was… for me and surely for all of you! I look back on 2021 with great professional satisfaction. Here’s a rundown of my work in 2021 and what I am looking forward to in 2022. PIH and the CTC My work with Partners In Health on the Massachusetts Community Tracing Collaborative, … Read More