Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), often referred to in Canada as “Doctors Without Borders”, is one of the world’s leading providers of medical relief. Working independently of political, economic and religious influences allows MSF to respond rapidly and effectively to public health emergencies worldwide. It is funded almost entirely by personal donations.
In the UBC Faculty of Medicine there are student representatives from each class (MD2016-2013) working together with MSF and the UBC Friends of MSF Undergraduate Club. We assist with recruitment events; host information events for current students; and help the larger UBC branch with fundraising and awareness campaigns.
Since September we have hosted one recruitment event and two information events for current UBC Medicine students. The first information event was a film screening at the Life Sciences Centre of “Living in Emergency”, an MSF-produced documentary which follows volunteer doctors as they struggle to provide emergency services in the challenging settings of war-torn Liberia and the Congo.
More recently we hosted a wine and cheese speaker event with a charismatic and insightful guest: Dr. Mark Cresswell. Dr. Cresswell joined MSF in 1999 as an anesthesiologist and headed to Sri Lanka to work in a small village held by the Tamil Tigers. He had many unique experiences to share from his time working at Mallavi hospital, which catered to a large and fluctuating refugee population living in an active war zone. He returned to London 6 months later where he joined the UK board of MSF and became immersed in various facets of the organization. Following his move to Canada, he joined the MSF-Canada board and now represents Canada at the Geneva congress.
The events were very well attended and received by students. Both the talk and video were inspiring and thought provoking. We look forward to hosting more events to bring students’ attention to this impressive organization, and hope that some of our students might be inspired to follow their lead in providing help where it is most needed.
For more information about MSF activities at UBC, visit the MSF page or contact Rebecca at: rebeccamariegordon@gmail.com
~Rebecca Gordon