Keynote Speakers for the Sant Bani Conference 2008

Alia Whitney-Johnson Speaks at the Gilford Town Library Thursday Evening, Oct 9th 7PM* …more

Governor Walter Petersen and Dr. Joia Mukherjee
give the Opening Address on Friday, October 10th at the Sant Bani School

Walter Peterson of Peterborough was the New Hampshire chief executive from 1969 to 1973. He has played an active role in guiding the Granite State. Interest in higher education began as an undergraduate athlete at Dartmouth College. He has been president of Franklin Pierce College and the University of New Hampshire and now serves as a member of the University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees. Before being elected governor he had been House speaker for four years. His daughter, Meg, is an English professor at Plymouth State University and heads the New Hampshire Writing Project. She is the mother of three Sant Bani students, including 2008 graduate Sam Gonzalez. Former Governor Peterson was recently described this way in a letter to the Manchester Union Leader. “His heart is large, his demeanor is calming, and his leadership qualities are timeless. Walter is one of our state’s great citizens . . .” We are honored to welcome him again to Sant Bani School.

Joia Mukherjee, M.D. , M.P.H. – Joia Mukherjee is Medical Director of Partners in Health of Cambridge, MA. PIH is the organization cofounded by Dr. Paul Farmer who is profiled in the best-selling book Mountains Beyond Mountains. PIH is
an international medical charity with clinical programs in Haiti, Rwanda, Lesotho, Malawi, Peru, Mexico, Russia, and inner-city Boston. Joia has been involved in health care access and human rights issues since 1989 in the United States, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the countries of the former Soviet Union. In 1999, she began working with Partners In Health and in 2000 became Partners In Health’s Medical Director. Currently, Dr. Mukherjee also is the Director of the Institute of Health and Social Justice, the advocacy arm of Partners In Health.
Dr. Mukherjee consults for the World Health Organization on the treatment of HIV and MDR-TB in developing countries and is a member of the Executive Board of Health Action AIDS, a campaign conducted with Physicians for Human Rights to engage the US health professional community in the international advocacy and education effort to stop the global AIDS pandemic. She is on the faculty at Harvard Medical School where she teaches Social Medicine and Infectious Disease. Her scholarly work focuses on the human rights aspects of HIV treatment and on the implementation of complex health interventions in resource-poor settings.