Make peace not war

Neil Arya is the quintessential modern doctor. Born in New Delhi, raised in rural Canada, and trained in engineering before embarking on medicine, Neil has many roles. In addition to his involvement with Peace Through Health, he is the past co-vice president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), an active member of Physicians for Global Survival, and a professor in environmental studies. Although he humbly describes himself as “a health activist on environmental, peace and disarmament issues,” Neil's patients think differently. They see him as a superhero: treating patients by day and saving the world by night.

Neil's interest in promoting peace through health is captured in his professional motto: “Politics is nothing more than medicine in the big picture.” His inspiration for combining peace work and medicine comes from his parents: “While my parents moved to Canada, both sets of grandparents stayed in India. I learned from them what it was like to live in an environment of violence. They lived through the 1947 conflict when India partitioned from Pakistan. There were massacres on the trains leaving Pakistan on both the day …