Physician with a mission

Joanne Liu has treated patients in the most dangerous parts of the globe as a Médecins Sans Frontières doctor. Now, as MSF’s international president, she is holding the world’s leaders to account for the way they handle medical crises.

The body of a six-year-old Syrian refugee is on the cover of every newspaper arrayed in the lobby of the Montreal restaurant where Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Médecins Sans Frontières, has just arrived.

It is impossible not to look at the full-page photographs of Aylan Kurdi, dead, lying face-first in the sand. And look the world will. Over the coming weeks, the image will prompt anguished cries for action. Crowds will take to the streets, urging governments to do more for the millions fleeing the civil war. But before any of this happens, Liu leans over the table and predicts the refugee crisis will become “the topic of the year.”

Read full article: McGill News, Fall-Winter, 2015