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Doctors Without Borders chief Joanne Liu is determined to hold the world elite accountable

Published: 30 May 2016

Joanne Liu does not have much time to sit around watching Netflix, but on vacation recently, she caught a series that has captured her imagination:Homeland, the acclaimed political thriller about the fevered plots of U.S. spies and their terrorist enemies. The show stresses the intelligence community’s fallible humanity, but also its brutal comfort with collateral damage. Watching it, Dr. Liu says, “You start thinking, ‘How could Kunduz be a mistake?’”

...Students and faculty at McGill’s International Masters for Health Leadership saw this chippy side of Dr. Liu when she enrolled in the elite management program on the eve of her bid for the MSF presidency.

Henry Mintzberg, a co-founder of the program, recalls her uneasy initial participation in “morning reflections,” during which students sit in circles and share their thoughts. “Joanne had the look of someone who was thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ ” Prof. Mintzberg says.

Eventually, he adds, she became an eager student, to the point of challenging faculty about the curriculum and pointing out flaws in the program.

Read full article: The Globe and Mail, May 27, 2016 

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