Speaker Series to Present "Message of Hope from Haiti"

As part of the Teaching International Program at Penn State Greater Allegheny, Dr. Ian G. Rawson, Chairman of the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, will deliver a lecture titled, ?Poverty, Natural Disasters and Malnutrition: A Message of Hope from Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) in Haiti. Dr. Rawson's talk, originally scheduled for January and delayed because of inclement weather, is rescheduled for Wednesday, April 29, at 6:00 p.m.  in Frable 117.

The hospital is a model for health care organizations in developing countries, and provides health care and community health and development for more than 300,000 people in Haiti?s central Artibonite Valley. ?Dealing with difficult childbirth, malnutrition, physical trauma, and the diseases of tropical poverty, HAS serves as clinic, emergency room, school, and outpost of hope?headquarters for an integrated health system dedicated to prevention as well as cure,? according to its website: http://hashaiti.org/.

Following the lecture, guests will be invited to a reception with Dr. Rawson at 7 p.m. in the Ostermayer Room in the Student Community Center.  Haitian art is exhibited in several locations on campus that guests will be welcome to view.  The art was provided by Lucy Rawson and the Friends of the HAS.

Dr. Rawson previously served as president of the Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania, president of AmeriNet Central, and as a senior manager with Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation and Allegheny General Hospital. He is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University and three other Pittsburgh area universities and serves on numerous community health organization boards. Dr. Rawson holds a Ph.D. in medical anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh and a master's degree in political science from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. He also attended the Harvard University School of Public Health's executive program in health planning and management.