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Alumni

Stitching for Advocacy

  Mali village life quilt
  Mali village life quilt assembled by Dr. Helen Blumen and the members of her quilt guild.
Photo: Dr. Helen Blumen

Helen E. Blumen, MD ’75 (RES ’78), practiced internal medicine in Santa Monica, California, for more than 10 years. Since 1991, she has lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where she has worked in a variety of nonclinical roles, focusing on evidence-based appropriate medical care. She currently is a principal in the health practice of Milliman, Inc., a consulting firm that provides actuarial and related services.

I always have considered myself first and foremost a doctor, even though I haven’t been a full-time clinician in a long time. So I have always made time for face-to-face clinical work, volunteering in various local clinics, serving low-income patients, on a part-time basis. When I recently moved on from one of them, I decided to see if there was a way to use my hobby of quilting to help other people.

The Advocacy Project (AP) is a nonprofit organization that works to help marginalized communities around the world to tell their stories as a way of producing social change. My quilt guild was fortunate to be able to partner with AP in creating two quilts related to the 2012 conflict in northern Mali. AP worked with an organization in Mali, Sini Sanuman, to teach women who were recovering from the physical and emotional traumas of sexual violence to create embroideries that communicate what happened to them.
The idea was then to produce a quilt that can be used to advocate for this community of women. My quilt guild embraced the challenge of working with the Malian embroideries, interspersing Malian cotton brocades and mud-cloth panels among the embroidered panels. We divided the panels into two groups. One of the quilts explicitly depicts acts of war and sexual violence, while the other conveys gentler images of village life.

Now that the quilts are finished, their photos and stories have been posted to the AP website. There are plans to exhibit them in the Washington, DC, area, in New Jersey and, later this year, in Germany. I am hopeful that we can find other exhibition venues, and I am looking for another volunteer opportunity to quilt for a cause.

To learn more, visit  about Advocacy Project website.


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Winter 2016

Winter 2016
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IN THIS ISSUE
  • The Essence of What We Are About
  • A Day to Remember
  • Genetic Testing All Women for Breast Cancer Might Not be Worth the Cost
  • To Kick Addiction, Replace It with Joy
  • Discovery of Molecular Signals Could Lead to Improved Stroke Recovery
  • New Method to Measure Artery Stiffness in the Brain
  • Wrist Fractures Could Foretell Future Breaks for Postmenopausal Women
  • Deadly Prostate-cancer Cells Have Stem-cell Qualities
  • Scientists Use Nanoparticles to Shut Down Cancer Growth
  • How Obstructive Sleep Apnea Damages the Brain
  • Keeping Gut Bacteria in Balance Could Help Delay Age-related Diseases
  • Building Sound Bodies and Sound Minds
  • Death Becomes a Matter of Choice
  • Do the Right Thing
  • Healing Art
  • Balance on a Blade’s Edge
  • Honors & Awards
  • In Memoriam
  • Reflections: Expanding the Definition of Beauty
  • Stitching for Advocacy
  • Postcard from Ethiopia
  • In His Own Words: Herb Rheingruber, MD ’65 (RES ’69)
  • Gift Benefits Migraine Research and Treatment
  • Good Friends Join Forces to Fight Cancer
  • UCLA Urology Celebrates Spielberg Family Gifts
  • UCLA Health System Board Meeting Explores Immunology
  • A First Look at the Future of Medical Education
  • A Vision for Healing
  • Mattel Party on the Pier a Wave of Success
  • Art of the Brain Honors Founder, Celebrates 16 Years
  • UCLA Cardiologists Serve Up Tips for a Healthy Heart
  • Operation Mend Honored at Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes
  • Gifts
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  • Chairs of Distinction
  • Back from the Streets
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