Each year, a graduating HSPH student receives the Albert Schweitzer Award for work and activities that have been marked by a "reverence for life" and who has sought, as expressed by Schweitzer, to "make my life my argument." Students are nominated by HSPH faculty, staff, and students. This year, two students received the award. Below are profiles of each student:

Patrik Johansson

A chance encounter two years ago in the hallway of a cultural center in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts helped establish the state’s first health clinic for Native Americans run by Native Americans.

MPH student Patrik Johansson had dropped by the North American Indian Center to volunteer for a youth program. As he was preparing to leave, the center’s health program director bumped into him and mentioned they needed a doctor.

A medical resident at Cambridge Hospital and a man of Cherokee descent, Johansson spotted a chance to deliver medical care to an often-ignored population dear to his heart.

The Caleb Cheeshateaumuck Clinic, named after the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University, opened in Union Square, Somerville in 1998. The clinic is an effort of the Cambridge Health Alliance and the North American Indian Center.

According to the 2000 US Census, more than 15,000 people in Massachusetts are of American-Indian or Alaskan-Native descent. More than 2,300 of them live in the Boston area.

Many of the tribes in Massachusetts are not eligible for the programs offered by the Indian Health Service, an agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services responsible for providing federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. Although the Massachusetts Commission of Indian Affairs lists 10 tribes/tribal groups in Massachusetts, only six are acknowledged by the state, and only one of those is recognized by the federal government.

The clinic consists of Johansson, a nurse who is Cherokee, and a driver who is Micmac. This past year, Johansson spent an average of one afternoon there each week, seeing about three patients each time.

Johansson learned that about two-thirds of his patients had never seen a primary care physician before, relying instead on traditional medicines or emergency room visits.

"So many of the barriers to good health were actually outside of the hospital setting that it was hard for some people to seek care," said Johansson.

Lack of insurance and transportation were two of the biggest reasons Johansson’s patients did not receive more stable primary care, he said. Now, clinic staff members drive patients to the clinic.

But there also was a general mistrust of Western medicine. Native Americans in Massachusetts view health as a balance among body, mind, spirit, and the environment, said Johansson, and Western medicine simply does not present such a holistic approach.

Last fall, Johansson decided to augment his medical degree with an MPH degree at HSPH, while continuing to work at the clinic and attend HMS as a fellow in minority health policy. He studied public health because he wanted to "see health in a larger context than being a resident in internal medicine."

Johansson has linked his work at the clinic directly to his HSPH studies. He explained that little is known about the health risk factors of Native Americans in Massachusetts. There was a general health survey, but no one knew how applicable it was to Native Americans.

"We didn’t even know what questions to ask," said Johansson.

So he began conducting focus groups among Native American tribes in the state. He found that the existing survey already covered many of the risk factors and diseases present in the focus groups, such as diabetes and heart disease, but it did not cover issues appropriate to the Native American experience, such as the health repercussions of historical trauma and the ongoing threat of losing tribal land.

Land loss in particular, said Johansson, is a health concern because of the stress it causes in people whose culture and history is intrinsically linked to the land around them. Tribes continue to face the specter of losing land today as housing costs skyrocket, said Johansson.

"The land issue is critical" he said. "It is the last line in ethnic defense in a way."

In his survey, Johansson also found that language reclamation proved important to Native Americans and promoted good health. He said learning their tribe’s traditional language helped Native Americans build their communities and maintain the link between body and spirit by allowing them to speak in the language of their ancestors.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health will now use Johansson’s modified survey that includes the effects of land loss and historical trauma to work with other state tribes.

After graduation, Johansson will work for the Office of Minority Health in Washington, DC.

"I look forward to working on important health disparities issues for all underserved groups in my new job," said Johansson.

Joshua Bloom

Some people find heroes in sports, or war, or politics. Joshua Bloom, MS student in the Department of Population and International Health at HSPH, finds heroes in human rights protection.

"What draws me to human rights is the opportunity to work with the heroes of the world today," said Bloom. "These people are the defenders on the front line of human struggles, who make tremendous impacts on public health and human rights."

Some of the human rights heroes are legendary: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Albert Schweitzer. But Bloom also sees the multitudes of lesser-known champions as just as heroic.

Bloom is the co-chair of the Harvard International Student Association for Health and Human Rights, a group that sponsors speakers, seminars, and service activities about human rights and public health. The group had existed at HSPH for several years but its membership, although dedicated, was generally small and activities few.

"Last year, we were really able to get the group off the ground," said Bloom, who now regularly e-mails 250 people with health and human rights announcements.

The group sponsored major special events in celebration of World AIDS Day and Human Rights Day and co-organized a 350-person health and human rights student conference at HMS. This year, the organization has been even more active, thanks in large part to Bloom. In addition to regularly bringing respected speakers to the school, such as the executive director of Amnesty International USA, Bloom compiles a schedule every week of human rights events at Harvard and around Boston from more than 30 list-serves. He then e-mails the compilation to interested people.

In a letter nominating Bloom for the Albert Schweitzer Award, Christian Fung, co-chair of the Harvard International Student Association for Health and Human Rights, wrote, "I have seen Josh first-hand as a tireless advocate for human rights issues and an extremely dedicated organizer. His vision to lead the group did not spring from an unchecked selfish ego or merely academic understanding of the issues. He believes in the cause and has demonstrated that commitment."

Said Bloom, "In order to get the most out of learning, I thought it was important to learn outside of the classroom as well as inside of it."

The student group also rallied around the Living Wage Campaign this spring, when Harvard students protested the wages of lower-paid Harvard and contract employees.

"With the campaign, we were part of a large group of people at the school who collectively got together, stepped outside of the building, and translated what they were learning about human rights and social justice into action for a local concern," said Bloom. "It was really amazing, but there is still much to be done."

He also expects to launch a Jewish student group at HSPH. He is currently writing the group’s constitution and last week submitted the paperwork needed to make the group official.

Bloom’s master’s thesis is about male circumcision and HIV infection in Africa. He has tracked studies indicating that circumcisions may reduce the risk of infection by more than 50 percent in some sub-Saharan countries where infection rates are as high as 30 percent and condom use is spotty. The high infection rates translate into lifetime risk of HIV infection rates of more than 60 percent, said Bloom.

While acknowledging the critics of male circumcision, some of whom say the practice diminishes sexual pleasure and is equivalent to genital mutilation, Bloom said public health officials are responsible for educating people about the pros as well as the cons of circumcision.

When he is not studying or organizing human rights activities at HSPH, Bloom spends 15 hours each week working with Amnesty International, a group with which he first became involved in 1996. For the past two years, Bloom has organized national campaigns that encouraged people to write "letters of hope" to political prisoners. Two of the six prisoners who have received letters over the past two years from one of these campaigns have been released early, encouraging Bloom to think the letters may have made a difference.

Bloom plans to work full-time for a human rights organization after graduation from HSPH.

"Human rights need to be part of a core value of public health," said Bloom. "Health is a human right as described by the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, thereby instilling a responsibility in the international community and governments to ensure the fulfillment of good health and other social outcomes."