Global healthcare inequality is among the greatest unresolved crises in humankind. At a time when technology and wealth are rising hand in hand across the globe, a large portion of the earth’s population finds itself lost in the shadows of “societal” achievements. It is our goal to bring the poor out of the darkness. It is our goal to give the poor their due justice. The MEDLIFE Inter-Chapter Conference Competition gives you, the future leaders of the global fight against poverty, a challenge. Can you solve a public health crisis? Can you take the facts put in front of you and summon the wealth of your knowledge, accrued over the course of your entire lives, to answer the problems facing a community? We think you can, and we have the evidence to show that a concerted effort by a small group of people can change the lives of thousands.
Look at the history of MEDLIFE. Dr. Ellis and his peers came together to make a difference. Without divine intervention or substantial financial backing, this group of dedicated students and community organizers have now delivered healthcare to over 100,000 patients. They have built over 120 staircases across Peru and Ecuador. Schools, bathrooms, houses, and many other development projects have been completed in the name of equality and justice for the poor.
You, as a group of intrepid students, have made a bold statement by participating in the MEDLIFE Inter-Chapter Conference Competition. You have gathered to learn, create, and share the knowledge it takes to change the world in a meaningful way. We encourage you to think critically, use your creativity, and be as detailed as possible. Search for faults where your plan looks too easy and shore up your strengths so that they are guaranteed not to fail.
On behalf of MEDLIFE and the communities it serves, thank you for your participation this weekend and into the future. We hope that all of the participants in this competition can come together to make the winning plan a reality. MEDLIFE is ready to help make it happen. If all the attendees sign a commitment to see it through to completion, MEDLIFE will do everything in its power to see it through. Everything we have included in this brief we have done before and are ready to do again. It is you, your teams, and your chapters that can make it happen. We look forward to seeing what you all come up with.
Sincerely,
Dr. Nicolas Ellis and the MEDLIFE Team
Judges
Tim Anson
Director of Student Affairs and Communications, MEDLIFE
Originally from Vermont, Mr. Anson received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Franklin Pierce University. In late 2012, he moved to Peru to oversee a luxury travel agency under the role of Marketing Director. In 2013, Tim became engaged with the MEDLIFE community and it’s ideology after meeting with Dr. Nick Ellis, the founder and CEO of the organization. Tim considers MEDLIFE a perfect fit – he can continue to thrive in his professional specialty while helping under-served communities around the world.
Charlie Hartley
Year-Long Student Affairs Intern, MEDLIFE
Charlie Hartley has been an intern at MEDLIFE since September of 2014. He found his way to Peru after graduating with honors from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he majored in History and completed his pre-medicine coursework. Charlie’s interest in public health and community organizing stems from seeing the repercussions of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He looks forward to continuing his work with MEDLIFE in the future as it fights for public health equality across the globe.
Professor Vrinda Narain
Faculty of Law and the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies (IGSF)
Dr. Vrinda Narain is an Assistant Professor at McGill University where she holds a joint appointment in the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies in the Faculty of Arts. She is also a Research Associate at the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Her research and teaching focus on constitutional law, social diversity and feminist legal theory.
Alan Blayney
MEDLIFE Executive Emeritus
Alan has been working with MEDLIFE since he abandoned all his other extracurriculars to become a founding member of the McGill Chapter in 2010. He went on to create the MEDLIFE Tutorials fundraiser and the McGill Dev Corps, was co-creator of the MEDTalks seminar series, and oversaw the formation of the MEDLIFE Chapter at Queen’s. He attended one mobile clinic in Lima in 2011, and spent another two weeks volunteering with a disaster relief organization in Pisco, Peru. Since leaving MEDLIFE, Alan completed a Masters degree in organic electronic materials, and founded Cognition of Gaming (CoG) to develop an evaluation system for the cognitive benefits of video games.
Next year, Alan will be crossing the border to start an MD/PhD program in the US.
medlifemcgill.com 