Lunch & Learn with Joanne Liu

A conversation with Dr. Joanne Liu, former international president of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and one of the most important figures in humanitarian affairs.

The conversation was moderated by Paul Wise, Richard E. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society and Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. 

About the speaker:

Joanne Liu is a Canadian pediatric emergency medicine physician, associate professor of medicine at the University of Montreal, professor of clinical medicine at McGill University, and was international president of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from 2013 to 2019. Liu’s operational contributions range from introducing comprehensive medical care for survivors of sexual violence to developing a telemedicine platform connecting doctors in remote areas with medical specialists worldwide. 

Liu started her career at MSF in 1996 working with Malian refugees in Mauritania. Since then, she has provided support in Haiti, Kenya, Palestine, Central African Republic, Sudan, and the Republic of the Congo. From 1999 to 2002, Liu was a program manager at the Paris office of MSF. She then went on to work as the president of the board of directors of MSF in Canada from 2004 to 2009. From 2002 to 2013, Liu served as a full-time pediatric emergency physician at Ste-Justine Hospital in Montreal and at the health travel clinic of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal. 

Liu received her MD from McGill University, her fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine from New York University, and her international master’s in health leadership from McGill University.