Geoff Hodgetts, MD – Professor, Queen’s University School of Medicine

Dear Colleagues:

War zones are not healthy for children or other living things. That may seem obvious, but it is really a challenge: what can be done to protect potential victims? Tragedies created by wars, whether international or civil, may become most visible to outsiders when refugees stream across borders. But internal displacement is more common, and dangers for people caught up in these conflicts extend beyond the threats of direct attack – awful as that is.

Medical services are interrupted; infrastructure necessary for everyday living and public health destroyed; moments of peace reveal backlogs of pain and need; stress causes some people to snap. At the worst, health grievances feed back into and exacerbate the conflict. At the best, shared interest in health can support stabilization and peace-building.

Dr. Geoff Hodgetts has worked against the dangers in some of the world’s most dangerous places, from Sarajevo during the siege to Kandahar province of Afghanistan. He served as Health Advisor to the Canadian International Development Agency in Kosovo, as Director of the Queens University Family Medicine Development Program in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as Senior Health Advisor to the Afghanistan-Pakistan Task Force of the Canadian government. Please join us as he speaks about his experiences.

All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest

Dr. Geoff Hodgetts is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Queen’s University. For fifteen years he was seconded by Queen’s to be Director of the Queen’s University Family Medicine Development Program in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a large health sector reform project funded by CIDA and the World Bank. He also acted as Health Advisor to CIDA on Kosovo and the western Balkans region.

From 2007 to 2014 he served as the Senior Health Advisor to the Afghanistan-Pakistan Task Force of the Canadian Government, conducting health sector assessment missions to Kabul, Kandahar, Bamyan and the far northern provinces of Afghanistan. As a spin-off from this, from 2009 to 2014 he was also a member of a group of civilian advisors to the NATO military command in Afghanistan, providing analysis of progress in public health sector initiatives. Through these experiences he has been able to apply the guiding principles of primary health care to innovative approaches to health education and capacity building in the complex environment of conflict and post-conflict countries.

Dr. Hodgetts has taught extensively on the impact of conflict on health and on the cultural heritage of countries.

Where We Meet

The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our programs are open to all and no registration is required. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library.

* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

November 2: Biennial Pre-Election Forecast Discussion. With Joseph White, Luxenberg Professor of Public Policy, and Andrew M. Lucker, Adjunct Professor of Political Science Alternate Location: Mather House Room 100, 11201 Euclid Ave.

November 9: Too Much Trust? Older Patients and Their Doctors. With Eva Kahana, Distinguished University Professor and Pierce T. and Elizabeth D. Robson Professor of Humanities, Department of Sociology.

November 16: Questions and Answers About Recycling Plastics. With John Blackwell, Leonard Case Jr. Professor Emeritus, Macromolecular Science and Engineering.

November 23: Thanksgiving break.

November 30: Just How Powerful is Putin? With Stephen Crowley, Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science, Oberlin College.

December 7: Union Decline in a Populist Era: The Experience of Western Democracies. With Chris Howell, James Monroe Professor of Politics, Oberlin College.