Previous Speakers
Dr. Linnea Smith, April 24, 2003 |
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| The Vulcan Materials Center recently hosted Dr. Linnea Smith, M.D. as their Spring 2003 Distinguished Speaker. Dr. Smith spoke to an audience of approximately 150, comprised of students, faculty, and members of the Birmingham community on her adventures as an American doctor in the Amazon. |  |
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Dr. Smith’s dedication to helping others through the field of medicine turned a 1990 vacation to Peru into a medical practice in the Amazon. Armed with a stethoscope, a small microscope, a bottle of pre-natal vitamins, a few doses of antibiotics and leave of absence from her Wisconsin internal medicine practice, she began caring for the native people in the remote basin of northeastern Peru who until this time had no medical services within 50 miles down river. Explorama, a nearby eco-tourism center, provides Dr. Smith with meals and river transportation. |
During a visit home, an interview with the local Public Radio station resulted in a phone call from a member of Rotary Club in Duluth Minnesota. He was interested in organizing a project around Dr. Smith’s work and convinced his Rotary District to visit Peru and build a 30 by 60 foot clinic, complete with well and solar panels, on the bank of the river, about 15 minutes’ walk from the Lodge where she was living. The clinic became know as the Yanamono Medical Clinic. This was the beginning of a lasting relationship with Rotary Clubs. |
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In 1996, the Amazon Medical Project was established as a 501 C(3) non-profit corporation. Journals depicting Dr. Smith’s adventures in the Amazon have been published in a book titled La Doctora, published by University of Minnesota Press. |
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Dedication Speaker, October 10, 2002Lynn Scarlett, assistant secretary of policy, management and budget, U.S. Department of the Interior, spoke on the topic "Alabama Business and Environmental Responsibility" to a group of state business and environmental leaders. |
Prior to joining the Bush administration in July 2001, Scarlett was president of the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, a nonprofit current affairs research and communications organization. As director of the Reason Public Policy Institute, the policy research division of the Foundation, her research focused on environmental, land use and natural resources issues. At Samford, Scarlett called for new relationships between manufacturers and suppliers, between customers and producers, between business companies and their community hosts, and new relationships among companies. As an example of a new relationship between customers and producers, she suggested to "think lease rather than sell." Instead of replacing an entire carpet that has worn only in places, for instance, a consumer can arrange a lease arrangement in which carpet tiles are replaced as needed. "It's all about reducing our environmental footprint," Scarlett said. What this strategy means at the Department of the Interior, she said, is an emphasis on conservation, cooperation, communication and consultation. |
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