PHR: 20 Years

Award Recipients

Dr. H. Jack Geiger

2006 PHR Health and Human Rights Award Recipient

Dr. H. Jack Geiger is a leader in the field of social medicine and in the global movement for health and human rights. For more than half a century, Dr. Geiger has championed the idea that medicine, beyond treating the individual, can be a point of entry for advancing human rights and social change with the power to transform entire communities.

Dr. Geiger's work is distinguished by his commitment to breaking down barriers to health, wellbeing and dignity. As a student at the University of Chicago, he organized a campus-wide strike that compelled the school to abandon its discriminatory admissions and housing policies. He was a founding member of the Congress of Racial Equality and medical director of the pivotal Selma to Montgomery civil rights march. Dr. Geiger conducted seminal research into the health consequences of apartheid in South Africa, and has led numerous investigations for PHR in conflict zones including the Middle East and the Balkans.