The Global Pulse Blog!

The last keynote of the convention was delivered by none other than former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders. A passionate speaker, all of us were inspired - and laughing our white coat’s off - with her message.

As I listened to her, I could not help wonder: how different would the U.S. “sick” healthcare system be if we had followed Dr. Elders’ advice? Her warnings on comprehensive sex education and health disparities, to name just a few, have turned out to be correct all along. Of course, many progressive health advocates, including us at AMSA, knew this from the beginning.

Favorite quote of keynote: “Condoms will break, but I can assure you that vows of abstinence will break more easily than condoms.”

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On Friday, March 14, Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, a nurse, pediatrician, and the first woman to be selected editor-in-chief of JAMA, gave an amazing keynote speech regarding evidence based prescribing and the pharmaceutical industry. From the influence of pharm reps on physicians, the ethical responsibilities of physicians towards their patients, and her own experiences as editor-in-chief of JAMA with not-so-honest studies by the drug companies, Dr. DeAngelis literally brought the house down.

The best part: she gave the keynote wearing an AMSA PharmFree t-shirt. Note the PharmFree sticker on her lapel as well. The video is a bit dark because the lights were dimmed, however the audio alone is worth it.

Dr. DeAngelis granted us an interview for the next issue of GP. How was the interview? You will need to read it in the next issue of GP!

Following Bill White’s welcome. Dr. David E. Persse spoke to AMSA about his experiences coordinating disaster relief for Hurricane Rita.

Unfortunately, the lights were dimmed for his presentation, so the video we have is on the dark side. Don’t worry, the audio is good.

We could have stayed 2 hours listening to Dr. Persse and all of his anecdotes - some harrowing, some with happy endings - and we would have not noticed the time at all.

On Thursday, March 13, Bill White, the mayor of Houston, Texas, gave AMSA a warm welcome during Thursday’s keynote address. Besides encouraging us to explore Houston, he talked about the public health challenges his city faced during Hurricane Katrina. Bill White is an amazing, commanding speaker and gave us some heartfelt advice based on his experiences.

Here are two short clips of Bill White’s keynote address to AMSA. Our apologies if the videos are a bit grainy, as the lights were dimmed during his speech:

Part #1

Part #2:

In the upcoming days, we will add photos and commentary by 2 medical students about AMSA’s 1st Environmental Health Institute, held on Wednesday, March 12. Organized by Liza Goldman-Huertas, Public Health Environment Coordinator, this was a landmark event by AMSA, with spectacular speakers and dynamic workshops.

This posting will be updated soon, so stay tuned!

A long time in the making, finally, here it is… the Global Pulse blog!

This blog has many goals, among them:

1) To further discuss and follow up topics that have been covered in Global Pulse.

2) To discuss topics that are timely and important, but have not been discussed in Global Pulse for one reason or the other. For example, it is difficult obtaining an article from a medical student in the middle of a war or conflict.

3) To provide student leaders in global health a forum in which to communicate directly to medical students. For example, writing about a relevant and timely topic regarding their area of expertise, or the organization they represent, or of a project they have done.

4) To cover, in real-time (or at least a couple of days later!) events that are relevant to Global Pulse, for example, this year’s AMSA convention, March 12-16, in Houston, Texas!

5) Finally, it is a way for the editors of GP to directly communicate with our readers.

We will debut this blog covering the GHAC events of the AMSA convention. GHAC stands for “Global Health Action Committee” for all of you that are not quite used to all of acronyms we use at AMSA. As the name implies, the convention will feature outstanding events related to global health, and we will try to blog about them so y’all can read about them. I arrived in Texas a couple of hours ago, and “y’all looking for a cab?” was the first thing that was hurled at me at the airport, and now I’m stuck with y’all!

Additionally, we will also discuss the events of AMSA’s first Environmental Health Leadership Institute.

We are extremely excited to expand Global Pulse with a blog. Please add us to your blogroll, or subscribe to our RSS feed, and pass the word on to your colleagues!

Julio Bracero, Editor-in-Chief, Global Pulse