Dear Colleagues,
In many traditions, and throughout history, the new year has signified renewal, offering opportunities for reflection and a re-prioritization of what matters through some form of ‘New Year’s resolutions.’ COVID-19 and the Omicron surge denied many of us this ritual of introspection, as families grieved losses, cared for sick ones, and uncertainty around work and school disrupted daily life once again.
As we regroup this February, I am proud to share this newsletter, celebrating the tremendous resilience and commitment of our growing FXB family of scholars, students, and staff. With some sadness, but also great pride, I also wanted to share that Veronica Lewin, our Director of Communications and Public Affairs, has accepted an exciting new position at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and will be leaving at the end of the month.
I remain in awe of those teaching and mentoring students, publishing meaningful research (many while also taking care of patients in clinic), and partnering with community groups and policy makers to bring about transformational change. Just last month, and in the presence of the Greek Minister of Education, we launched a new summer program on migration and refugee studies, and we solidified our partnership with Project N95 to help distribute 500,000 high-filtration masks to communities most in need across the South, building on a successful distribution of 20,000 masks in Massachusetts last December. And in recognition of Black History Month, we issued a new report on Making the Public Health Case for Reparations that is part of the Center’s new project, supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which considers whether longstanding racial health inequities could be mitigated by reparations efforts and hopes to engage more health scholars in this conversation.
I welcome you to visit our website, join our upcoming events, and learn more about our ongoing work and the amazing scholars and students that call the FXB Center home.
Wishing you all a healthy 2022,
Dr. Natalia Linos
Acting Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights
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Incarceration and Its Impact on Health
Please join us on Feb. 15 from noon to 1:30 p.m. ET for a panel discussion on the impact incarceration has on health. This event is the first of a four-part series on medical justice and the carceral state organized by the FXB Center, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Medical Justice Alliance. This event is also part of the Harvard Medical School Office for Diversity Inclusion & Community Partnership’s Equity and Social Justice Series.
About the Series
The “Medical Justice and the Carceral State” webinar series aims to encourage collaboration between health and legal experts, raise awareness about health care disenfranchisement in carceral settings, and showcase the material change that is possible through public interest law and medical partnerships.
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SAVE THE DATE: Shifting Ecosystems, Distorted Landscapes & "Slow" Violence: An Eco-Social Discussion on Health & Environment in Palestine
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Please join us on Feb. 23 at noon ET as we host a panel discussion to explore the relationship of land, environment, and health in Palestine through application of eco-social theory to health and environment, settler colonialism as a determinant of health, the concept of ‘slow’ violence, and historical trauma. Panelists will include:
- Yara Asi PhD, University of Central Florida | FXB Center
- Rabia Eghbariah, Harvard Law School | Adalah: the Legal Center for Arab and Minority Rights in Israel
- Weeam Hammoudeh PhD, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University | FXB Center
- Suzan Mitwalli MPH, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University
- Maysaa Nemer PhD, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University
- Osama Tannous MD MPH, The Galilee Society for Health Research and Services | FXB Center
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FXB Instructor Calls for Protections for Massachusetts’ Immigrant Community |
Dr. Margaret Sullivan recently submitted written testimony in support of Massachusetts Legislature bills S.1579 and H.2418. The bills are known as the Safe Communities Act and aim protect basic rights and ensure every resident can seek health care, protection and emergency assistance without fear of deportation or detention. Read her submitted testimony.
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FXB Health & Human Rights Fellow Submits Testimony in Support of Rent Control |
FXB Health and Human Rights Fellow Dr. Jourdyn Lawrence submitted written testimony in support of Massachusetts Legislature bills H.1378/S.886 (An Act Enabling Local Options for Tenant Protections) and H.1440/S.889 (An Act Relative to the Stabilization of Rents and Evictions in Towns and Cities Facing Distress in the Housing Market). View testimony.
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FXB Health & Human Rights Fellow Joins Coalition to End Racism in Clinical Algorithms |
Dr. Marie Plaisime is among 12 members of the newly-formed Coalition to End Racism in Clinical Algorithms. Read the original press release from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: The Health Department today announced the formation of the Coalition to End Racism in Clinical Algorithms (CERCA). Read the blogpost here.
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FXB Center for Health and Human Rights doctoral cohort member Jasmine D. Graves submitted written testimony in support of Massachusetts Legislature bills S.1578 and H.2504, which would provide criminal justice reform protections to all prisoners in segregated confinement in Massachusetts. Read testimony.
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FXB Health and Human Rights Fellow Dr. Brittney Butler testified before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Racial Inequities in Maternal Health Commission. The hearing was a listening session on maternal health efforts and experiences in the Metro West and Central Massachusetts regions. Read her remarks.
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HEALTH & HUMAN RIGHTS JOURNAL |
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The Dec. 2021 issue of Health and Human Rights includes two special sections – Ecological Justice and the Right to Health and Health Rights and The Urgency of the Climate Crisis, as well as a great collection of general papers.
The Journal also features Viewpoints relating to the recent COP26 Summit, and celebrating the new HRC resolutions around the right to a safe environment, and the appointment of a new Special Rapporteur on the impact of climate change.
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Are you interested in learning more about refugee and migration rights?
The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, in collaboration with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, and with the support of the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece and the United States, is offering a three-week intensive, interdisciplinary, summer course on migration and refugee studies in Greece. Harvard graduate students across all schools and degree programs may apply, but admission is limited to 15 individuals.
The course offers you the opportunity to engage both conceptually and practically with key issues related to contemporary forced migration. The application period is open now through Feb. 15, 2022.
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BLACK WOMEN AND PUBLIC HEALTH |
FXB Health and Human Rights Fellow Dr. Brittney Butler writes about the past, present and future of Black women in health policy in Chapter 2 of "Black Women and Public Health: Strategies to Name, Locate, and Change Systems of Power," available via SUNY Press. The three dozen authors in this volume offer analysis, critique, and recommendations for overcoming longstanding and contemporary challenges to equity in public health practices.
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It’s too soon to lift the school-mask mandate.
A mask mandate lifted in the middle of winter, when schools have few options for shifting activities outdoors, could result in a reversal of the positive trajectory we are witnessing today and a widening of health inequities, FXB Acting Director Dr. Natalia Linos writes in the Boston Globe. Read the op-ed here.
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Human Rights Day: Time For Reparations |
We commemorated International Human Rights Day with a conversation on “Time for Reparations: A Global Perspective,” featuring commentary from the book's editors and contributors on global case studies of state injustices and interdisciplinary perspectives on the potential impact of reparations. Watch Now
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Title 42 & Human Rights Abuses of Haitian Migrants at the Texas Border |
In partnership with the Center for Global Health Equity of the University of Virginia, Cambridge Health Alliance Asylum Program, Physicians for Human Rights, and Human Impact Partners, we hosted a panel to discuss how Title 42 has negatively affected people attempting to enter the U.S. with a focus on recent human rights violations against Haitian migrants. Watch Now
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Advancing Equity: Health and Wellbeing for LGBTQ+ Youth |
FXB Acting Director Dr. Natalia Linos moderated a panel on Advancing Equity: Health and Wellbeing for LGBTQ+ Youth for the Brookline Health Department's 25th Annual Public Health Policy Forum. The virtual forum included discussions on creating safe spaces at schools with curriculum to support LGBTQ+ youths, providing inclusive healthcare and more equitable access to LGBTQ+ youths, and physical and mental health disparities that may affect some members of the LGBTQ+ youth community. Watch Now
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Transforming Boston: A Black & Brown Justice Agenda for the New Mayor |
We joined Harvard Ash Center, Carr Center, Center for Public Leadership, and Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston for a webinar focused on urgent issues the incoming mayor of Boston must address to rectify structural inequities and support Black and Brown communities. Watch Now
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Stay in Touch
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