VanRooyen Receives Humanitarian Award
Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH, chief of the Division of International Health and Humanitarian Programs in the Department of Emergency Medicine, received the University of Illinois Chicago’s (UIC) Humanitarian Award. The award was presented to VanRooyen by the Alumni Association at the UIC School of Public Health commencement in Chicago last month.
The award is presented to alumni who have made significant humanitarian contributions to society which have improved or enriched the lives of others and the welfare of humanity.
VanRooyen completed his residency in emergency medicine and received a master’s degree in public health at UIC in 1991 and 1996, respectively, and was assistant professor of emergency medicine at UIC until 1997. He also founded the nation’s first international emergency fellowship while at UIC.
VanRooyen is co-founder and co-director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and has devoted much of his professional life to connecting academic institutions and humanitarian organizations. He has traveled to more than 30 nations and regions, including Sudan, Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia and Rwanda, to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. He has worked with numerous non-governmental organizations, such as Physicians for Human Rights and Save the Children, to help improve their operations and practices.
As a researcher, VanRooyen focuses on public health operations in war and humanitarian emergencies, which have led him to confront issues such as refugee health care access, the demography of forced migration, application of human rights initiatives and quantifying war-related mortality.