CEO's Column
June 2011

A Legacy

Peter Baldini
Chief Executive Officer

The work of public health is the work of collaboration. The most brilliant researcher, the most dedicated practitioner, the most effective policy advocate achieves nothing alone. Our calling is built on teamwork.

And yet, as we have known since the days of Dr. Robert Koch, one person can make an extraordinary impact.

Jamshed Chhor was a rarity – a passionate believer in the collective strength of the many, and who exemplified the power of the individual.

As many of you know, Jamshed, Learning and Development Officer for our sister organization, The Union, passed away – far too soon – in April. His loss is incalculable, not just for The Union, but for all of us.

Jamshed passionately expressed the need for better cooperation as the only way to combat disease effectively. Yet through sheer personal persistence and vision, he built a program that has had an extraordinary impact on global public health. In a few short years, he grew the International Management Development Programme (IMDP) –from a single course to a robust, worldwide offering of 30 programs that expand the capacity of organizations in high burden countries.

Equally significant: through his personal strengths – a firm grasp on management education coupled with a ceaselessly upbeat personality – he infused countless public health workers with the confidence to overcome the daunting challenges they faced daily.

The last course that Jamshed oversaw was a weeklong immersion in innovation, networking and partnership. Participants came, as usual, from homelands where high disease burden and severely limited infrastructure were exacerbated by political or social instability: places like Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Egypt.

For public health workers in countries like these, spending even a day away from directing the battle is a tough decision. Yet this group, and their peers in many other countries, would commit readily to days and weeks of IMDP training hundreds and even thousands of miles from their home. Some of those at this most recent course were attending their second, third and even fifth IMDP program. That they did so -- and repeatedly – is clear testimony to the value of what Jamshed and The Union created together.

Commenting on his work just a few hours before his passing, Jamshed spoke passionately about bringing health care to those most in need but for whom it is least accessible, and doing so with dignity and honor. He spoke about the need to improve our problem-solving abilities by stretching our capacity for innovation and creativity. And, befitting that final course, he spoke of his deep conviction that defeating disease in difficult environments requires effective collaboration.

These are beliefs and values that drive us at WLF, our cousins at The Union, and public health workers everywhere. They guide our work and illuminate our path when the going gets rough, or the destination seems discouragingly remote. Health workers at IMDP courses return home with and hope, renewed vigor for their work and skills that impact the health of entire cities, provinces and countries.

It is easy to lose sight of those overarching principles, especially as we work in the trenches of everyday advocacy, research or health delivery. Our job now must be to remember what we learned from Jamshed - that ultimately, human intelligence and caring are powerful enough to defeat any disease – and our individual and collective goal must be to prove him right.