Rajkumar S. Pammal
Dear Readers,
This edition of the Roundtable Journal on Health Policy (RJHP) comes as the global medical community mourns the recent passing of Dr. Paul Farmer, a pioneer in the fields of global health and medical anthropology. Dr. Farmer was the Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of Partners in Health, and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His international public health work and initiatives are of paramount influence to countless lives. Whether it was going door to door delivering antiviral medication during the AIDS crisis in Haiti, or lecturing my fellow undergraduate classmates and I during his Case Studies in Global Health class, Dr. Farmer always emphasized the importance of treating each and every human life with dignity and respect. To me, one of his most poignant quotes is “In a world riven by inequity, medicine could be viewed as social justice work.”
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Roundtable Journal on Health Policy | Volume 4 | Issue 1
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Dear Readers,
This edition of the Roundtable Journal on Health Policy (RJHP) comes as the global medical community mourns the recent passing of Dr. Paul Farmer, a pioneer in the fields of global health and medical anthropology. Dr. Farmer was the Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of Partners in Health, and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His international public health work and initiatives are of paramount influence to countless lives. Whether it was going door to door delivering antiviral medication during the AIDS crisis in Haiti, or lecturing my fellow undergraduate classmates and I during his Case Studies in Global Health class, Dr. Farmer always emphasized the importance of treating each and every human life with dignity and respect. To me, one of his most poignant quotes is “In a world riven by inequity, medicine could be viewed as social justice work.”
RJHP was created and continues to be published with this sentiment in mind. Physicians have a professional responsibility to protect and promote health, which extends to advocating for patients, addressing inequities, reducing inefficiencies, and striving to improve quality of care. You will notice that many of the enclosed articles focus on topics directly related to the medical student and young physician experience, including COVID-19’s impact on student wellness, engagement with social media for health literacy, and leveraging the utility of the medical note and EHRs. This reflects our strong belief in the importance of medical students discussing and engaging with the multi-faceted dimensions of our future profession, enabling advocacy of health equity and patient-centered policy as future physicians.
On behalf of my fellow editors and classmates who contributed to this edition of RJHP, I hope you enjoy reading.
Sincerely,
Rajkumar S. Pammal
Editor-In-Chief, RJHP
The Roundtable Journal on Health Policy 