Remembering Dr. Jack Geiger

Watch and listen to the incomparable, inspiring Jack Geiger MD – his journey from Harlem and the Civil Rights Movement to founding the community health center model to global human rights missions and a humanitarian legacy.

The Social Mission Alliance was saddened to hear of the recent death of H. Jack Geiger, MD.

Dr. Geiger was the inaugural recipient of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation award for his lifetime of work in health, poverty and civil rights including marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Geiger was a founding member of Physicians for Human Rights which won a Nobel prize in 1985, and was considered the Father of Community Health Centers in America. A clinician, an educator, a humanitarian, a change agent, and a human rights advocate, Dr. Geiger was the embodiment of compassion with an unwavering commitment to improve the health outcomes and well-being of underserved populations in the U.S. and worldwide.

Through his actions, Dr. Geiger demonstrated why medicine must address the relationship of health, poverty, and human rights. Dr. Geiger was a dear friend and mentor to our founder, Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan and had an enormous impact on the founding of the original Beyond Flexner Alliance. He attended, and spoke at, our first three conferences, and was often found spending time speaking with students one-on-one during any breaks. He was a giant and will be dearly missed by our organization.

Dr. Geiger shared his insights on social mission, BFA, and reflected on some of his life in this video with us in 2015.