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| Name | Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Brilliant |
|---|---|
| Birth date | May 05, 1944 |
| Birth place | Detroit, Michigan, USA |
| Residence | USA |
| Field | medical doctor, epidemiologist, technologist, author and philanthropist |
| Alma mater | MPH - University of Michigan M.D. - Wayne State University School of Medicine |
| Known for | one of the leaders of the successful World Health Organization (WHO) smallpox eradication program. |
In 1969, a group of American Indians from many different tribes, calling themselves Indians of All Tribes, occupied the Alcatraz island in San Francisco. A call went out for doctors to help a pregnant woman there give birth and Brilliant joined their occupation as unofficial doctor.
Civil unrest stopped the relief caravan so he spent several years in India studying at a Himalayan ashram with Neem Karoli Baba (a Hindu sage) from whom he received the name Subramanyum. After about a year Neem Karoli Baba told Brilliant to eradicate smallpox on which he would spend the next several years. He participated, as a medical officer, in the World Health Organization (WHO) smallpox eradication program that in 1980 certified the global eradication of smallpox.
When he returned to the United States, he became a professor of international health at the University of Michigan as well as starting numerous charitable and business ventures. He spent the first half of 2005 as a volunteer helping out in the tsunami in Sri Lanka and working in India with WHO in the campaign to eradicate polio.
*December, 1978 – Co-founder and chairman of Seva, an International, non-profit, health foundation. Seva's projects in Tibet, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Tanzania, Mexico and Guatemala have given back sight to more than 2 million blind people through surgery, self sufficient eye care systems, and low cost manufacturing of intraocular lenses. One important contribution of his was his helping to set up the Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India. 1985 – He co-founded, with Stewart Brand, The Well, a prototypic online community that has been the subject of multiple books and studies. Time magazine said, "Well was a huge hit, a precursor of every online business from Amazon.com to eBay." July 2006 – He was awarded the TED Prize, granting him $100,000 and 'One Wish to Change the World' which he presented at TED in July 2006. As his prize nominator summed up, "'Dr. Brilliant' is a name to live up to, and he has." His one wish that he presented at the conference was, "To build a powerful new early warning system to protect our world from some of its worst nightmares." 22 February 2006 – Google Inc. appointed him as the Executive Director of Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, a position which he held until April, 2009.
Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:American physicians Category:Epidemiologists Category:World Health Organization officials Category:Google employees Category:American philanthropists Category:American businesspeople Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:Wayne State University alumni Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:Converts to Hinduism
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