Richard Aronson '69, MD, MPH
Health Professions Advisor and Assistant Dean of Students
It is such a great honor to return to Amherst, as of January 2011! While
I've always carried the spirit of Amherst in my heart and stayed connected to this amazing community, I am thrilled to join in the daily life of the College. Ever since my time here as a student, I have had a passion to explore and act upon the meaning of health and the nature of healing. What does it mean to be a healthy person, a healthy family, a healthy community, a healthy society? What does it mean to be open to healing? For those who ponder pursuing a health profession, and for those who have already made that decision, what pathways are available to fit and feed your skills, curiosity, ideals, and dreams? What practical steps does one take to make these aspirations come alive? I am
fully "juiced" to stimulate such conversation and help our students along in their journey.
My own journey has been rich with challenge, learning, and a myriad of
opportunities to promote the health of people and communities, starting with my own health (I'm still working on that!). At Amherst, I majored in Religion, helped organize the Amherst Amigos (a group of us who lived in rural Mexican villages in the summers), and had the good fortune to be involved in the founding of the Amherst ABC Program. Medical school (University of Rochester) and public health school (University of North Carolina) launched me on a career that has included clinical pediatric practice, public service, leadership as a public health physician (in Vermont, Wisconsin, and Maine), and teacher (most recently, at Hampshire College and UMass Amherst School of Public Health). I helped Amherst students start the Public Health Collaborative in 2009. I am now at a time of excitement and commitment to inspire a new generation of health professionals. I can't think of a better place to do that than right here at Amherst.
I continue to be moved and inspired by the curiosity, passion, critical thinking, and thirst for light and justice that thrive at Amherst College. Embracing the opportunity to be fully present here again, I turn to my favorite Amherst song: "In the love of Amherst hearts, abides her greatest glory. As the future still imparts, the old unchanging story. Youth and beauty, learning, faith. Bound by friendship's charter. To the College we have made. With eye and mind and heart."
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
New Direction January 2011
As of January 2011, I assumed the position of Health professions Advisor and Assistant Dean of Students at Amherst College. It is such a great honor to return to Amherst, and carry on the work of Humane Worlds in this unique context! While I've always carried the spirit of Amherst in my heart and stayed connected to this amazing community, I am thrilled to join in the daily life of the College. Ever since my time here as a student, I have had a passion to explore and act upon the meaning of health and the nature of healing. What does it mean to be a healthy person, a healthy family, a healthy community, a healthy society? What does it mean to be open to healing? For those who ponder pursuing a health profession, and for those who have already made that decision, what pathways are available to fit and feed your skills, curiosity, ideals, and dreams? What practical steps does one take to make these aspirations come alive? I am
fully "juiced" to stimulate such conversation and help our students along in their journey.
My own journey has been rich with challenge, learning, and a myriad of
opportunities to promote the health of people and communities, starting with my own health (I'm still working on that!). At Amherst, I majored in Religion, helped organize the Amherst Amigos (a group of us who lived in rural Mexican villages in the summers), and had the good fortune to be involved in the founding of the Amherst ABC Program. Medical school (University of Rochester) and public health school (University of North Carolina) launched me on a career that has included clinical pediatric practice, public service, leadership as a public health physician (in Vermont, Wisconsin, and Maine), and teacher (most recently, at Hampshire College and UMass Amherst School of Public Health). I helped Amherst students start the Public Health Collaborative in 2009. I am now at a time of excitement and commitment to inspire a new generation of health professionals. I can't think of a better place to do that than right here at Amherst.
I continue to be moved and inspired by the curiosity, passion, critical thinking, and thirst for light and justice that thrive at Amherst College. Embracing the opportunity to be fully present here again, I turn to my favorite Amherst song: "In the love of Amherst hearts, abides her greatest glory. As the future still imparts, the old unchanging story. Youth and beauty, learning, faith. Bound by friendship's charter. To the College we have made. With eye and mind and heart."
fully "juiced" to stimulate such conversation and help our students along in their journey.
My own journey has been rich with challenge, learning, and a myriad of
opportunities to promote the health of people and communities, starting with my own health (I'm still working on that!). At Amherst, I majored in Religion, helped organize the Amherst Amigos (a group of us who lived in rural Mexican villages in the summers), and had the good fortune to be involved in the founding of the Amherst ABC Program. Medical school (University of Rochester) and public health school (University of North Carolina) launched me on a career that has included clinical pediatric practice, public service, leadership as a public health physician (in Vermont, Wisconsin, and Maine), and teacher (most recently, at Hampshire College and UMass Amherst School of Public Health). I helped Amherst students start the Public Health Collaborative in 2009. I am now at a time of excitement and commitment to inspire a new generation of health professionals. I can't think of a better place to do that than right here at Amherst.
I continue to be moved and inspired by the curiosity, passion, critical thinking, and thirst for light and justice that thrive at Amherst College. Embracing the opportunity to be fully present here again, I turn to my favorite Amherst song: "In the love of Amherst hearts, abides her greatest glory. As the future still imparts, the old unchanging story. Youth and beauty, learning, faith. Bound by friendship's charter. To the College we have made. With eye and mind and heart."
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Third Annual Public Health Career Dialogue and Mentoring at Amherst April 16
The third annual Amherst College Public Health Career Panel, Dialogue, and Mentoring will take place on Friday, April 16, 2010, at 2 pm in the Cole Assembly Room in Converse Hall. The Amherst College Public Health Collaborative - with support from the Career Center, Health Professions Group (Carolyn Bassett), Class of 1969 Project (Justin Grimes), Center for Community Engagement (Molly Mead), Alumni Office (Betsy Cannon Smith) and Five College Culture, Health, and Science Program (Elizabeth Conlisk and Chris Dole) - has put together a uniquely exciting opportunity for Amherst and Five College students to get a clearer picture of the multiple dimensions and opportunities for a life of consequence offered through public health. The panel is outstanding: Joseph Nwadiuko '08, Donald Lombardi '64, Nils Bruzelius '68, Allison Sullivan '88, Lawrence Osborn '63, Gary Forester '69, and Asinath Rusibamayila Mount Holyoke '10, with Richard Aronson '69 as facilitator. After the panel and dialogue conclude, the group will move over to the Career Center where, starting at 4 pm, students will be able to have individual mentoring sessions with the panelists. Many thanks to Lili Ferguson '10 for her tireless work to plan for this event, along with Kinjal Patel '13. We look forward to seeing you!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Humane Worlds Maternal and Child Health Updated Description
Humane Worlds for Maternal and Child Health
Inspiring a New Generation to Public Health and Service
Spring 2010
Richard A. Aronson, MD, MPH
Since September 2009, I have focused my energy on teaching public health as an adjunct faculty at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts; and continuing to work closely with individual students excited about public health and with the Amherst College Public Health Collaborative; and participating in the Five College Culture, Health, and Science Program. The teaching at Hampshire will continue into the fall of 2010 and, I hope, beyond. The following is a revised and updated version of Humane Worlds for Maternal and Child Health.
Purpose: To inspire a new generation of leaders in public health and service to create conditions under which all people have the full equal opportunity to thrive in body, mind, and spirit.
Background: Public health and public service face local and global challenges that require multifaceted inter-disciplinary approaches to address underlying root causes and respect the language and culture of all involved. Our objective is to create a more humane and equitable world. To make progress, we need broad participation of many stakeholders, which requires new forms of leadership. Humane Worlds for Maternal and Child Health provides students with various classroom, research, and experiential opportunities to learn about public health and practice such leadership. We draw on research that shows 1) How various forms of inequality, injustice, and stress influence health and create unconscionable public health disparities, 2) How resilience and other positive resources, such as the use of clear humane language, provide the potential to create health equity, and 3) How inclusive dialogue, collaborative action, and cultural and linguistic competence form the foundation for the new leadership. We provide workshops, papers, lectures, courses (currently on health disparities, and cultural and linguistic competence at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts), and community engagement on the translation of this research into humane practice and public policy. We provide educational opportunities to students who seek to learn and practice such leadership. We mentor those who have or are exploring a passion for public health and public service, and support them with tools to express their idealism in action. Our method of choice for this work is Future Search, a unique planning process that has been used with success worldwide for 25 years.
By this means we seek to unite stakeholders and serve as a catalyst for essential but previously unlikely partnerships. Our intention is to enable people to discover common ground for action that they did not realize they shared. Such discovery can lay the foundation for leadership needed to bring dignity, hope, and equity to women, children, and families. We seek to move away from systems that thrive on pathology, medical diagnosis, and risk reduction. Instead, we envision systems and policies that derive their power from resilience, trust, respect of culture and language, and community. Our species has a remarkable capacity for healing and cooperating for the common good. The purpose of the Center is to mobilize that capacity. To support this service mission, we support research on effective methods and mentor those who intend to practice new forms of social action. In so doing, we equip a new generation of leaders with lifelong tools to actualize their ideals.
Public Health: Our purpose in public health, defined by the USA Institute of Medicine and World Health Organization, is to foster conditions that assure optimal health in mind, body, and spirit. We commit to ending health inequities and protecting human dignity. In Maternal and Child Health, we seek to change social conditions so that children experience humane worlds. Such worlds help meet basic needs and support their safety and well being.
Vision: Our vision is to bring the highest ideals of public health into the lives of children and families everywhere and to improve their health by:
1) Humanizing the worlds that they experience;
2) Changing how we think about public health to embrace every facet of their lives;
3) Creating forums for dialogue that lead to effective action on global health inequities; and
4) Educating and inspiring a new generation of public service leaders to carry on this work in the long term.
Goals: We seek to 1) Create equity and end MCH disparities by radical strengthening of the capacity of all concerned parties for participatory leadership. 2) Involve young people in all aspects of our operation, so as to educate and inspire new leadership in public health. 3) Set foundations for societal changes to make equity and justice in MCH a reality; and 4) Challenge individual and organizational biases; 5) Respect all voices, including those historically marginalized; and 6) Promote opportunities for shared learning.
Our expertise:
1. Teaching classes, mentoring, advising, dialogue, organizing, advocating, and experience to learn and practice public health with a focus on community empowerment and uplift.
a) Individual and group mentoring.
b) Internships, independent study, research, seminars to build leadership capacity of young people and future public health work force, with a focus on health disparities and inequities.
2. Synthesizing research on social determinants of health, resilience, traumatic childhood experiences, racism, chronic stress, language, and conditions for productive dialogue that will have a significant impact on future public health practice.
3. Translating this research into humane MCH and public health practice to improve the health of women and children, with systems that honor families, communities, and cultures.
4. Integrating cultural understanding and respect as a key strategy to end health disparities.
5. Paying attention to and humanizing the language of public health and medicine to better reflect our ideals and purpose.
6. Bringing multiple stakeholders together to untangle complex public health challenges and take collaborative action to solve them.
Our service:
1. Inspiring a new generation of leaders in public health and service through a wide range of local, national, and global opportunities, which at this time are concentrated through an adjunct faculty appointment in public health at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.
2. Consultation to individuals, communities, organizations to build capacity in the above, by
a) Inspiring keynotes, presentations, workshops.
b) Organizing forums for dialogue and common ground to build essential but previously unlikely partnerships.
c) Serving as catalyst for inter-generational and cross-cultural and cross-language dialogue.
c) Coordinating and writing papers and grants. Several of these papers are works in progress for which students can offer unique contributions.
3. Organization and facilitation of interactive meetings with broad stakeholder participation to unite diverse parties and spark action to create public health equity.
For more information, contact:
Richard A. Aronson, MD, MPH
Humane Worlds for Maternal and Child Health
Adjunct Assistant Professor in Public Health, Hampshire College
Mailing address: 19 Maple St.; Hallowell, ME, USA 04347
E-mail: raronson@vmyfairpoint.net
Phone: 207 215 7317 Cell
207 623 3366 Home
www.humaneworldscenter.blogspot.com
www.humaneworldscenter.org
Inspiring a New Generation to Public Health and Service
Spring 2010
Richard A. Aronson, MD, MPH
Since September 2009, I have focused my energy on teaching public health as an adjunct faculty at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts; and continuing to work closely with individual students excited about public health and with the Amherst College Public Health Collaborative; and participating in the Five College Culture, Health, and Science Program. The teaching at Hampshire will continue into the fall of 2010 and, I hope, beyond. The following is a revised and updated version of Humane Worlds for Maternal and Child Health.
Purpose: To inspire a new generation of leaders in public health and service to create conditions under which all people have the full equal opportunity to thrive in body, mind, and spirit.
Background: Public health and public service face local and global challenges that require multifaceted inter-disciplinary approaches to address underlying root causes and respect the language and culture of all involved. Our objective is to create a more humane and equitable world. To make progress, we need broad participation of many stakeholders, which requires new forms of leadership. Humane Worlds for Maternal and Child Health provides students with various classroom, research, and experiential opportunities to learn about public health and practice such leadership. We draw on research that shows 1) How various forms of inequality, injustice, and stress influence health and create unconscionable public health disparities, 2) How resilience and other positive resources, such as the use of clear humane language, provide the potential to create health equity, and 3) How inclusive dialogue, collaborative action, and cultural and linguistic competence form the foundation for the new leadership. We provide workshops, papers, lectures, courses (currently on health disparities, and cultural and linguistic competence at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts), and community engagement on the translation of this research into humane practice and public policy. We provide educational opportunities to students who seek to learn and practice such leadership. We mentor those who have or are exploring a passion for public health and public service, and support them with tools to express their idealism in action. Our method of choice for this work is Future Search, a unique planning process that has been used with success worldwide for 25 years.
By this means we seek to unite stakeholders and serve as a catalyst for essential but previously unlikely partnerships. Our intention is to enable people to discover common ground for action that they did not realize they shared. Such discovery can lay the foundation for leadership needed to bring dignity, hope, and equity to women, children, and families. We seek to move away from systems that thrive on pathology, medical diagnosis, and risk reduction. Instead, we envision systems and policies that derive their power from resilience, trust, respect of culture and language, and community. Our species has a remarkable capacity for healing and cooperating for the common good. The purpose of the Center is to mobilize that capacity. To support this service mission, we support research on effective methods and mentor those who intend to practice new forms of social action. In so doing, we equip a new generation of leaders with lifelong tools to actualize their ideals.
Public Health: Our purpose in public health, defined by the USA Institute of Medicine and World Health Organization, is to foster conditions that assure optimal health in mind, body, and spirit. We commit to ending health inequities and protecting human dignity. In Maternal and Child Health, we seek to change social conditions so that children experience humane worlds. Such worlds help meet basic needs and support their safety and well being.
Vision: Our vision is to bring the highest ideals of public health into the lives of children and families everywhere and to improve their health by:
1) Humanizing the worlds that they experience;
2) Changing how we think about public health to embrace every facet of their lives;
3) Creating forums for dialogue that lead to effective action on global health inequities; and
4) Educating and inspiring a new generation of public service leaders to carry on this work in the long term.
Goals: We seek to 1) Create equity and end MCH disparities by radical strengthening of the capacity of all concerned parties for participatory leadership. 2) Involve young people in all aspects of our operation, so as to educate and inspire new leadership in public health. 3) Set foundations for societal changes to make equity and justice in MCH a reality; and 4) Challenge individual and organizational biases; 5) Respect all voices, including those historically marginalized; and 6) Promote opportunities for shared learning.
Our expertise:
1. Teaching classes, mentoring, advising, dialogue, organizing, advocating, and experience to learn and practice public health with a focus on community empowerment and uplift.
a) Individual and group mentoring.
b) Internships, independent study, research, seminars to build leadership capacity of young people and future public health work force, with a focus on health disparities and inequities.
2. Synthesizing research on social determinants of health, resilience, traumatic childhood experiences, racism, chronic stress, language, and conditions for productive dialogue that will have a significant impact on future public health practice.
3. Translating this research into humane MCH and public health practice to improve the health of women and children, with systems that honor families, communities, and cultures.
4. Integrating cultural understanding and respect as a key strategy to end health disparities.
5. Paying attention to and humanizing the language of public health and medicine to better reflect our ideals and purpose.
6. Bringing multiple stakeholders together to untangle complex public health challenges and take collaborative action to solve them.
Our service:
1. Inspiring a new generation of leaders in public health and service through a wide range of local, national, and global opportunities, which at this time are concentrated through an adjunct faculty appointment in public health at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.
2. Consultation to individuals, communities, organizations to build capacity in the above, by
a) Inspiring keynotes, presentations, workshops.
b) Organizing forums for dialogue and common ground to build essential but previously unlikely partnerships.
c) Serving as catalyst for inter-generational and cross-cultural and cross-language dialogue.
c) Coordinating and writing papers and grants. Several of these papers are works in progress for which students can offer unique contributions.
3. Organization and facilitation of interactive meetings with broad stakeholder participation to unite diverse parties and spark action to create public health equity.
For more information, contact:
Richard A. Aronson, MD, MPH
Humane Worlds for Maternal and Child Health
Adjunct Assistant Professor in Public Health, Hampshire College
Mailing address: 19 Maple St.; Hallowell, ME, USA 04347
E-mail: raronson@vmyfairpoint.net
Phone: 207 215 7317 Cell
207 623 3366 Home
www.humaneworldscenter.blogspot.com
www.humaneworldscenter.org
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