Doctor From South Africa Named Luce Professor

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Doctor From South Africa Named Luce Professor

HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 6 -- Following an extensive international search, Dr. Laurel E. Baldwin-Ragaven of Cape Town, South Africa, has been selected as the first Henry R. Luce Professor of Health and Human Rights at Trinity College.

The Henry Luce Foundation provided funding to establish a named professorship at Trinity College in 1999. Participation in the professorship program, according to the foundation, is limited to "leading private American colleges and universities with selective, competitive liberal arts programs -- and with enrollments of at least one thousand students."

"In seeking to fill this critical position within our Human Rights Program, we wanted to find a physician and academic with outstanding credentials who was also a committed and experienced human rights activist, and we have accomplished that with the selection of Dr. Baldwin-Ragaven," said W. Miller Brown, dean of faculty. "With the support of the Luce Foundation, Trinity is poised to create an innovative model for liberal learning."

The College initiated its interdisciplinary Human Rights Program in 1998, becoming the first undergraduate college of its kind to establish a minor in human rights; students also have the option of pursuing a self-designed major in human rights. The curricular dimensions of the program introduce students to theoretical, political, and historical facts and issues relating to human rights. Further, the program is designed and intended to capture or stimulate the interest of students majoring in any field, from dance to neuroscience.

Students can take courses in a wide range of topics, such as "Health and Human Rights," "Human Rights Through Performance," "Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights," and "International Human Rights Law and Advocacy." Students also have unique opportunities, through a yearlong lecture series, an advocacy fellows-in-residence program, and summer fellowships, to confront and engage the real issues and come into contact with advocates and activists who are on the frontline of global human rights initiatives.

In addition to teaching at Trinity, Baldwin-Ragaven will supervise undergraduate research and community service projects, organize a biennial conference on health and human rights, and conduct faculty-development activities focusing on health and human rights. She also expects to continue the clinical practice of medicine part-time.

"Dr. Baldwin-Ragaven is a leading activist and scholar deeply interested in women's rights and health care issues. Her appointment will enhance Trinity's efforts to reach out to the larger communities of which we are a part, linking the College in new and creative ways to those involved in health and human rights -- two of the most important areas of national and international concern," said Maryam Elahi, director of the Human Rights Program. "We are thrilled to be creating a unique niche for undergraduates interested in medicine, science, and human rights."

From 1995 to 1996, Baldwin-Ragaven was a member of the board of advisers for Concrete Steps, an organization in Montreal, Canada, that fostered community-based, multi-professional workshops to combat violence against women. She was co-editor of the book An Ambulance of the Wrong Colour: Health Professionals, Human Rights and Ethics in South Africa, published in South Africa in 1999 by University of Cape Town Press. She also co-authored a chapter in a forthcoming book to be published by Westview Press, Globalising Feminist Bioethics: Women's Health Concerns Worldwide.

A member of the Amnesty International medical network, Baldwin-Ragaven has been a lecturer in the department of primary health care and family medicine at the University of Cape Town since 1998. She is currently involved in transformation of the curriculum for the medical degree to reflect the University's commitment to primary health care, community-based teaching and learning, and an integrated approach to ethics and human rights education. From 1997 to 1999, she was a consultant to the department of family medicine and primary care at the University of Stellenbosch in Tygerburg, South Africa. During that two-year period, she also was a research fellow with the Health and Human Rights Project: Professional Accountability in South Africa, a joint initiative of the University of Cape Town department of community health and the Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture in Cape Town. As part of this project, she co-authored a report highlighting medical complicity as well as resistance to human rights abuses for the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission Special Hearings on the Health Sector chaired by Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Prior to relocating to South Africa, Baldwin-Ragaven was an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at McGill University in Montreal from 1988 to 1996. She also was a practicing physician during this time period at Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital in Montreal and at the CLSC C¥te des Neiges, a government-run health services center in Montreal, where she coordinated an ambulatory care training program for third- and fourth-year year medical students from McGill University.

From 1986 to 1996, Baldwin-Ragaven also served as a family physician at Head and Hands, a community-based, self-help health organization in Montreal. From 1986 to 1988, she was the physician in charge in the occupational health unit of the CLSC Longueuil Est in Longueuil, Canada. Baldwin-Ragaven also served as a research associate at Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University from 1993 to 1996 and as a lecturer in the department of family medicine at McGill University from 1987 to 1988.

Baldwin-Ragaven received a bachelor's degree in American studies in 1978 from Smith College. She then completed her medical degree in 1983 at McGill University and post-graduate studies in the Family Medicine Residency Programme at St. Mary's Hospital, McGill University, from 1983 to 1985. She received a prestigious Harvard Macy Scholarship in 1999 and participated in the Harvard Macy Institute, a program for physician-educators offered by the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She was made a Fellow of the Canadian College of Family Physicians in 1995.

The Luce Foundation was created by the late Henry R. Luce, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc., in 1936. It supports programs in areas such as: interdisciplinary exploration of higher education; increased understanding between East Asia and the United States; the study of religion and theology; scholarship in American art; opportunities for women in science and engineering; and contributions to youth and public policy programs.

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