Dr. Joanne Liu is the international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). She has received the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s Teasdale-Corti Humanitarian Award.
Born in Quebec, Liu decided to become a pediatrician. She studied at McGill University School of Medicine, and specialized in pediatrics at Montreal’s Sainte-Justine hospital. She has a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine from New York School of Medicine, and an International Master’s in Health Leadership from McGill University.
Dr. Liu’s time with Médecins Sans Frontières began in 1996, when she worked with Malian refugees in Mauritania. Since then, she has done a myriad of things to provide medical support and assistance to those who are not able to receive or afford good attention and care. Liu has worked in Indonesia, Haiti, Kenya, Republic of Congo, Palestine, Central African Republic, and Sudan’s Darfur region.
Liu and her team were the first to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Guinea. She has become an international leader in the outbreak, and has fiercely criticized the world for its slow and indifferent response to the Ebola epidemic.
FEMISCIENCE 