Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

Oregon PSR is celebrating our 40th year of work for a more healthy, peaceful, and just world in 2021. We began from the powerful vision of our founders who sat on Dr. Karen Steingart’s living room floor and strategized about how a health message could help prevent nuclear war. Over the next forty years, our members, volunteers, and donors contributed their passion and leadership to the organization, bringing a broad public health frame to issues such as environmental justice, gun violence, and climate health, learning and growing along the way.

We hope that you will join us online on Thursday, November 18th from 6:30 until 7:30 PM (PST) in celebrating our 40th anniversary! Though the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately prohibits us from safely gathering in person, we look forward to celebrating virtually with you. We will premiere a new video highlighting some of our work over the last four decades, sharing stories and images from many of the longtime members and leaders who have made our 40 years of work possible.

This online event is free to join, and you can learn about 40th Anniversary Celebration sponsorship opportunities here.

RSVP below to let us know that you'll plan to join us. We will follow up with you after you have RSVP'd with details for joining our online celebration in November.

We look forward to celebrating our 40 years of work with you on November 18th, and hope that you will RSVP today!

Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for our August 6th, 2021 Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorial ceremony and the We Hold Sacred exhibit! Even with our audience size limited as a precaution relative to the ongoing pandemic, we were so honored to share an evening of remembrance of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all those negatively impacted by more than 76 years of nuclear injustice, as well as a celebration of the nuclear justice movement, especially as led by Black, Indigenous, and people of color individuals and communities, with our fully vaccinated and masked attendees.

Oregon PSR and our community partner organizations have begun planning the annual Portland-area memorial of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which this year will be held on Friday, August 6th beginning at 6:00 PM at the Japanese American Historical Plaza at Waterfront Park in downtown Portland (NW Naito Parkway & Couch Street).

All the major open-access slide shows on the Public Health and Social Justice website, curated by Oregon PSR Advisory Board Member Martin Donohoe, MD, have recently been updated (6/23/21 update). Open access means that all or a portion of any slide show can be used by anyone, with appropriate citation. The site addresses the social, economic, environmental, human rights, and cultural contributors to health and illness. Some of the content focuses on the medical humanities and the history of medicine.

This anthology, edited by Leah Stenson, conveys the enormity of Fukushima, the first nuclear disaster of the 21st Century on both the environmental and human scale. The second edition features all new prefatory material, including contributions by Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. Helen Caldicott, Fairewinds Energy Education founder Maggie Gundersen, and professor emerita Dr. Norma Field. The essays examine the status of Fukushima ten years after the disaster through the lens of social, political, and environmental concerns.

What an extraordinary time for Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility to be celebrating our 40th anniversary. With the support of our members, donors, and volunteers, we’ve accomplished so much in these past four decades!

Challenging times can be times of profound growth and learning, and this has certainly been the case for Oregon PSR. The movements to promote peace and justice and to protect our climate continue to grow, and I encourage you to read about our ongoing work to make our world more just, peaceful, and healthy for all.

Oregon PSR is celebrating our 40th year of work for a more healthy, peaceful, and just world in 2021. We began from the powerful vision of our founders who sat on the living room floor in Dr. Karen Steingart’s house and strategized about how a health message could help prevent nuclear war. Over the next forty years, countless members, volunteers, and donors brought their passion and leadership to the organization, bringing a broad public health frame to issues such as environmental justice, gun violence, and climate health, learning and growing along the way.

Though 2020 and the early months of 2021 have posed a unique set of challenges to Oregon PSR’s work, we continue to learn and implement new ways to grow our movement for a more healthy, just, and peaceful world. With the support of our members and volunteers, we have taken advantage of online meeting technologies to broaden the reach of our Peace Program efforts well beyond the borders of our state, involving new partners and reaching new audiences. If you missed any of our recent events, be sure to check them out on our website, Facebook page, or our new YouTube channel.