Supercourse Newsletter, August 26, 2005
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Dear Friends,
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom:
Eric Noji�s presentation at the Cutler lecture on Sept. 29 is
taking off at break-neck speed. Let me update you will some of
the results:
"The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the
way I see it, is service to a fellow human being."
Lech Walesa, Born on Sept. 29, the day of the Cutler Lecture
We view Eric�s talk as a Supercourse service to our fellows.
So much has been going on. We first wanted to create a network
of networks. This has expanded beyond our expectations with over
300 networks joining, including the UN, 100s of universities,
Harvard, London School of Hygiene, etc. Participants include
many from Africa (e.g. Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanza-
nia, Tunisia, etc), numerous Arab/Muslim countries (e.g. Iran,
Iraq, Oman, Tanzania, Tunisia, etc.). Participation by European
countries needs to pick up as we only have a handful of coun-
tries (Belgium, Croatia, Israel, Croatia, etc.). Asia is rather
poorly represented with few centers in China, India and Paki-
stan. Surprisingly, none of my former students and friends in
Japan have volunteered�(sigh) Not unexpectedly there are many
centers from the US. Also, the country that has embraced the Su-
percourse to the Highest degree, Cuba, is very well represented.
Please tell your friends about the supercourse, several centers
are doing campus wide feeds of the lecture.
Breaking down Silos: What is most amazing is that this is truly
an interdisciplinary effort, something we did not expect. The
disciplines using our feeds include anthropology, Biology, Com-
puter Science, Cardiology, Emergency Medicine, Epidemiology, Ra-
diation Health, Law, Occupational Therapy, Political Science,
Veterinary Science, etc. Isn�t that fantastic? Please get your
sister in law who teaches physics, you cousin who teaches archi-
tecture and your former wife who teaches anger management in-
volved.
Plans: We are ahead of time. Eric has sent to us a light version
of his talk, this is like a movie trailer, and it will give you
and students a taste of global health. It is also very small
(10-20 slides) so we can send it on virtually any pipeline. It
will be put on the web in downloadable format by Sept. 1. Sev-
eral people offered to translate the lecture. We will have by
the end of next week the lecture hopefully in Arabic, Spanish,
American English, Real English (only kidding), Russian and po-
tentially a few more. Next week we will have the �heavy version�
which has many more slides up on the web.
The web casting looks outstanding. It is amazing how many people
will be able to receive the live version. If you want to join,
please contact Steve Puluka <SPuluka@gsphdean.gsph.pitt.edu>
We ask you to encourage many others in your country about the
supercourse. Also, please distribute Eric�s slides throughout
your university and country to get the word out about global
health.
I also want to �pod-cast� the lecture, as we can reach a lot of
13 year olds across the world with a pod-cast. The difficult is
that most of us epidemiology village elders remember not only
Sony Walkman, but even more scary, the 45 and 78 vinyl records!!
A pod cast is to take the sound recording of Eric�s lecture and
make it downloadable into an i-pod. It would be cool to use this
plus PowerPoint, it would be almost like Eric was there.
Eric Noji, M.D. Humanitarian and educational Star: Eric received
two major awards just recently. The Center of Excellence Award
for teaching from the University of Hawaii, and the Woodrow Wis-
lon Award for public service. Congratulations (exn1@cdc.gov)
Now is the Time to Visit Pittsburgh:
Why not come to Pittsburgh to attend the Cutler lecture? We
would love to have you. Pittsburgh in late September is very
beautiful. If we have time we will take you for a ride to visit
our mother Turkey and her 4 babies, Ringo, George, Paul and
John. (She is not a very good mother and we had to report her to
Social Services). We do have a beautiful deer family with two
fawns, Madonna, and Paris. You can go mountain climbing and ski-
ing on Mount Washington, and surfing on the Monongahela. Also we
have several 5 star restaurants from the Southern Part of the
United States in Kentucky, with the initials KFC (only kidding
of course). We would love to have you visit, it should be a fan-
tastic presentation.
Beautiful note From Riana Dewi Nugrahani, Hasanuddin University,
Indonesia: �Keep up the good effort and to let you know that I
truly enjoy the supercourse. It helps me a great deal to have
better understanding of the world. Not just about health, but
also about friendship, communication and team work. Thanks.�
Faina will be attending the Peer Review Congress in Chicago, IL,
September 16-17, 2005. If you are interested in meeting with
her, please mailto:faina.linkov@gmail.com
"Education is a treasure." - Petronius
Best wishes,
Ron, Eric, Faina, Mita, Eugene, Arlene, Saida, Thomas Dewey,
Lech, Julia, Steve,Petronius
mailto:super1+@pitt.edu