General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe amazingly courageous woman who leads Doctors Without Borders
A Canadian physician who risks her life to save the world.
"A rare visible minority in a city that was and is overwhelmingly white, Dr. Liu, 48, was bullied mercilessly in grade school, from minor teasing to racist taunts and pushes and punches. It shapes your mind, consciously or unconsciously. When I was young, I would tell myself its not because Im different I wont be as good. I always made a huge deal of being good at everything. Thats how I coped with it. You react by overperforming, or underperforming.
Inspired by reading Camuss The Plague and Jean-Pierre Willems memoir of working in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Dr. Liu decided in her early teens she would become a physician who treats the worlds poorest patients. She trained at McGill University and obtained specialties in pediatrics and emergency medicine with those goals in mind.
In 1993, when she was doing an internship in intensive care at Sainte-Justine, her supervising physician, Dr. Joaquim Miro, invited her to her first MSF meeting. Three years later, she would complete her first mission to a refugee camp in Mauritania...
She went on to serve in war zones such as Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and other disaster zones, such as Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Shes frequently been under fire over the years, has slept with boots on for a quick escape, and worked undercover in Syria in the past year to avoid being kidnapped."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/vacations-out-for-canadian-chief-of-aid-group-doctors-without-borders/article21183104/
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)we have to know that marvelous people like like this still exist.
On edit-- And more's the pity they don't run for office.
slipslidingaway
(21,210 posts)840high
(17,196 posts)herding cats
(19,558 posts)I have great respect for her and what she does.
riverbendviewgal
(4,252 posts)She is amazing.
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)LawDeeDah
(1,596 posts)I humbly bow to Dr. Liu and all the wonderful people like her. These are our heroes, not some jerkoff throwing a sports ball around.