James Orbinski ‘90

After extensive field experience with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF), James was elected MSF’s international president from 1998 to 2001. In 1999, he launched MSF’s Access to Essential Medicines Campaign and in that same year, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of MSF for its pioneering approach to medical humanitarianism, particularly for its approach to witnessing. James worked as MSF’s Head of Mission in Goma, Zaire in 1996–1997, during the refugee crisis. He was MSF’s Head of Mission in Kigali during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and MSF’s medical co–coordinator in Jalalabad, Afghanistan during the winter of 1994. He was MSF’s medical co–coordinator in Baidoa, Somalia during the civil war and famine of 1992–1993. James’s first MSF mission was in Peru in 1992. For his medical humanitarian leadership in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, Canada’s highest civilian award.

As international president, James represented MSF in numerous humanitarian emergencies and on critical humanitarian issues in, among others: Sudan, Kosovo, Russia, Cambodia, South Africa, India and Thailand. He also represented MSF in many national parliaments as well as international organizations such as the United Nations Security Council, the World Health Organization and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.