Former chief operating officer of the Reproductive and Child Health Alliance in Cambodia Richard B. Sturgis will present "Marshalling a Gentle Army for Implementing Better Health in Rural Cambodia: Buddhism at Work" at an Area Focus Lecture on Tuesday, March 23 at 2 p.m. in 271 Richards Building on the Brigham Young University campus.
In Cambodia, "pagoda communities—monks, nuns, and 'wat grannies'—are used for basic health promotion and education," says Sturgis. "It is one strategy for improving basic health in an extremely resource poor environment."
Born and raised in Provo, he has worked in the area of public health in more than 25 countries and lived long-term in six: South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya and Cambodia until February this year.
His development work overseas began in 1974, and he resigned his tenured professor status in 1983 to work full-time with international public health. He taught at BYU, Michigan State, Ball State, the University of Tennessee and Western Illinois University.
Sturgis received a B.S. and M.S. in sociology from BYU and a Ph.D. in sociology from Michigan State University.
This lecture is sponsored by the Department of Health Science. For more information, please contact Kirk Dearden at kirk_dearden@byu.edu.
Writer: Lee Simons
