Supercourse Newsletter
October 23, 2003
www.pitt.edu/~super1/
www.bibalex.org/SuperCourse/
www.bibalex.org/english/initiatives/SupercourseArchive.htm
Fear of Goblins, the Joy of Halloween
Halloween appears to be one of the best holidays for the Supercourse. We get to dress up as
Goblins, and go out trick and treating. The last newsletter sparked an enormous collection of
lectures. Eugene in Siberia has been extremely busy. But…we did it! We did it! We did it! We
blew past the 1500 mark, and hit an amazing 1512 lectures. As they say in drag racing, we blew
the doors off 1500 lectures, and are on our way to 2000! We owe this all to you, and our global
team.
The Supercourse Winner:
We have chosen Shiv Chandra Mathur from India to be the 1500th lecture winner. As reviewed
by Faina last week, Shiv Chandra Mathur wrote four wonderful lectures concerning spouse abuse
which has been little researched in developing countries. Shiv is also a great friend with the
Supercourse. He is a public health specialist and Director of the State Institute of Health and
Family Welfare, Rajsthan, Jaipur India. He is one of the first to join the Supercourse many years
ago. He has be unfailing in his support over these many years. We took a vote in our group
between sending him the Silver Jaguar, and the autographed Supercourse CD, and the CD one
by only one vote. We are sure that everyone would want a Supercourse CD more than one of
those funny English cars (that is owned by Ford, anyways). We especially wish him a happy
Diwali. Shiv not only develops fantastic lectures, he also writes wonderful poetry. We should all
be as balanced in life and mind.
God has not promised
Skies always blue
Flower strewn pathways.
All our life through;
God has not promised
Sun with out rain,
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain,
But god has promised
Strength for the day
Rest for the Labor
Light for the way.
The touch, which you are holding would give enough light to the health professionals, interested
in Preventive medicine that our discipline would achieve new heights at global platform.
- Shiv Chandar Mathur
Isn’t that beautiful, from a kind and brilliant man. We are proud that he wins the prize for the 1500
lecture. Thank you so much Shiv, from all us world wide.
Grand Challenge:
Some rain and pain came into our lives, sadly we did not win one of the Gate’s grand challenges,
despite we all putting enormous energy into this. However, we are not disappointed, as the 14
grand challenges were all infectious diseases. Clearly infectious diseases are important, but in
the year 2010, it is estimated that 73% of the deaths will be do to chronic conditions in developing
countries, and >90% in developed countries. I am proud on how we all pulled together to hone a
beautiful grand challenge. What we developed will be in place in the future.
Lecture of the week:
We received a wonderful set of lectures on environmental and occupational health topics from our
good friend Tee Guidotti, MD, MPH. Dr. Guidotti is a Chair in the Department of Environmental
and Occupational Health, The George Washington University Medical Center. This set of lectures
has excellent overviews of environmental health, toxicology, carcinogens, and other topics. These
lectures will be opened in a few days. Please, do not miss them! If anybody is interested in further
development of the environmental and occupational health Supercourse, please e-mail us.
Ramadan Mubarak: We wish all our Muslim friends a happy Happy Ramadan. My good friend
Ezzeldeen suggest that we create a Supercourse lecture on the health benefits of Ramadan.
Happy Diwali: All of us from the Supercourse team wish all of our friends a Very Happy Diwali.
This "festival of lights" celebrated in India, signifies the harvest festival and the renewal of life.
Kofi Annan:
This week Kofi Annan presented in Pittsburgh, and some of the things he said reminded us of the
supercourse. He discussed the concept of global cooperation which we have, and productive
interdependence. He overviewed the concepts of a collective system, collective action, collective
answers, and the creation of a global discussion. The point out how health, nutrition, and peace
are all intertwined for global development. He discussed the interdependence of human kind.
His speech was quite elegant, and we all felt that in many ways we are achieving this with the
Supercourse.
Halloween joke of the day:
What do ghosts love to have for desert?
Iced Screams
Best Regards from Pittsburgh
Ron, Faina, Mita, Eugene, Soni, Tomoko, Akira, Abed, Rania, Wendy, Eugene, Julia, Casper, the
Evil Witch from the West, Deb, Tom, Benjamin
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