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| UMMS Chancellor Michael F. Collins and Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf are pictured prior to her commencement keynote at Commencement 2012. |
In the midst of the West African Ebola crisis centered in Liberia, UMass Medical School is responding with human and material resources—and hope.
In an op-ed for Boston WBUR-FM’s Cognoscenti, Chancellor Michael F. Collins recalled how two years ago Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in Worcester to deliver the 2012 commencement address at UMMS, spoke movingly about how wonderful it was that her country was finally seeing a brighter future after its health care system was decimated by a decade-long civil war.
“The Ebola epidemic has dealt the nation of Liberia—its leaders and its people—another devastating and challenging hand,” Chancellor Collins wrote. “As our colleague Dr. Richard Sacra and others have seen firsthand, the health care system that was so thoughtfully reconstructed after Liberia’s long civil wars is now once again struggling to meet the demands.”
Along with other academic medical centers nationwide, UMass Medical School has been engaged in rebuilding the country’s health care system since 2006. Now, with a $7.5 million grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, UMass Medical School will lead a team of academic partners to provide comprehensive relief efforts in Liberia, bringing doctors, nurses, and training and medical supplies to the Ebola-stricken country.
“Those who will answer that call bear a weighty responsibility driven by selflessness and good will,” Collins emphasized. “With the right expertise and support, the people of Liberia will find their way to that bright and happy future, with great promise, that their president so wished for.”
Read the full op-ed The Road to Hope in Liberia, and learn more about Ebola relief efforts underway at UMass Medical School.
Related links on UMassMedNow:
UMMS Ebola Relief effort launched with $7.5M Paul G. Allen Family Foundation grant
Ebola free, Rick Sacra continues call for prayers, support for his ‘adopted country’
UMass Medical School partners to send Ebola relief to Liberia
UMMS installing modern technology at Liberia’s only med school
Gilroy teaches anatomy in Liberia: Working in brand new lab at the A.M. Dogliotti College of Medicine
UMMS faculty form strong bonds with Liberia
Library projects lending order to chaos in Liberia
Medical School team rebuilding health care in Liberia
