WHAT:
Raymond Alcide Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the United States, will visit the campus to express his gratitude to UCLA's Operation Haiti team and other medical personnel who volunteered for relief efforts in Haiti in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Joseph also will attend an event sponsored by the UCLA International Institute, where he will meet with students and faculty who helped provide money and supplies for relief efforts and who have an interest in research on Haiti.
WHO:
Ambassador Raymond Alcide Joseph will meet with Operation Haiti members, faculty and students, including:
Courtney Lyder
Dean, UCLA School of Nursing
Barbara Bates-Jensen
Operation Haiti volunteer; associate professor, UCLA School of Nursing and David Geffen School of Medicine Division of Geriatrics (Video on Bates-Jensen's experiences)
Patti Taylor
Operation Haiti team leader; clinical nurse specialist and lecturer, UCLA School of Nursing
Adey Nyamathi
Professor and associate dean for international research and scholarly activities, UCLA School of Nursing
WHEN:
Thursday, April 8
Event at UCLA School of Nursing: 10:30–11:45 a.m.
Event at UCLA International Institute: 1:30–2:45 p.m.
WHERE:
School of Nursing event:
Audrienne Moseley Auditorium (Room A-660), Factor Health Sciences Building
700 Tiverton Ave., on the UCLA campus
International Institute event:
10383 Bunche Hall, on the UCLA campus
BACKGROUND:
Raymond Alcide Joseph, who became the Haitian ambassador to the U.S. in 2005, established the first print shop and founded Reyon Limyè (Rays of Light), the first monthly Christian newspaper in Cayes, Haiti, at age 19. He also started the first radio broadcast in New York beamed against the Duvalier dictatorship in the 1960s and co-founded the Haiti Observateur, the first commercial Haitian weekly.
As part of UCLA's Operation Haiti, Dr. Bita Zadeh and nurses Patti Taylor, Bethany Fontenot, Jessica Kubisch, Shannon McCarville, Holly Phelan and Kathleen Weinstein volunteered for two weeks on the USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship docked in Port-au-Prince after the earthquake. Hear about their experiences on their UCLA Today blog.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Letisia Marquez, UCLA Office of Media Relations, 310-206-3986
PARKING:
Press should call media contact to reserve parking.
Media Contact:
Letisia Marquez
Letisia Marquez
