Ruth Simmons Quotes
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In the late 60s, 70s and possibly early 80s, social scientists were interested in researching the diffusion of innovation and studying the link between applied research and policy and program development. Recently there has been less interest in these issues and we feel that this interest must be rekindled.
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There's nothing worse than a leader who lacks ambition.
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I would like to make it possible for many women and men in Latin America to win the lottery and receive the type of reproductive health services they so urgently need.
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A focus on people's health and well-being must be the core of family planning research and policy. This may seem self-evident, but the realities of program implementation in third world countries has often shown that the health and well-being of individuals is not a priority.
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I came to understand the value of education, not just to enable me to make a good living, but to enable me to make a worthwhile life.
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Bureaucratic systems are not set up to be what we refer to as human service organizations. They were established to collect revenue and maintain law and order and they used a law and order approach in providing family planning services.
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It's very important in a leadership role not to place your ego at the foreground and not to judge everything in relationship to how your ego is fed.
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Fear of failure is the fuel of achievement. If you weren't afraid to fail, you probably wouldn't be highly motivated to work at the level that most of us have to work at to do well.
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In fact it is essential that we strengthen efforts to learn from each other, and stop considering public health in the third world and in the U.S. as separate intellectual and practical endeavors.
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I have been working with the World Health Organization since 1989 in an effort to redefine approaches to contraceptive introduction. This has given me the opportunity to insist that strategies for research and policy development must simultaneously address people's needs, the capacity of programs to provide good quality of care, and the range of technological options available.
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If policy makers and program managers participate in an interdisciplinary assessment team, make informal visits to local families and have in-depth conversations with local providers and health authorities, the real needs and complex challenges of organizing good reproductive health services become apparent.
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If you are the kind of person who listens to conservative advice, you may do okay in life, but you probably won't ever be a fantastic leader. You have to take risks, and you also have to go against conventional wisdom, because conventional wisdom doesn't make for startling advances in society.
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High level policy makers and program managers do not normally listen to the voices of local people, local providers and local program managers when they make decisions about contraceptive introduction or other aspects of program development in reproductive health.
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It really pains me greatly to hear from graduate students that graduate education is a lower priority here.
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I would like to see policy makers and international donor agencies realize that it is not enough to give money for demonstration projects. From the very beginning plans should be made for the scaling-up of successful innovations.
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The humanities don't belong to some elitist group... knowledge as a whole should be embraced.
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There is strong mentoring of women in the academy. Corporations appear more willing to resist affirmative action to advance women, and boards and shareholders are more tolerant of this approach.
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I'm the youngest of 12 children. And although I was the youngest, I tried to organize things in my family. When there were disputes, I tried to mediate.
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I often say that shareholders should feel very responsible for how responsive corporations are to the public trust.
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When ownership is local and national, and various stakeholders work together, program innovations have a greater chance to take root and survive.
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If you want to scale-up, the first thing you have to do is to expand your own team.
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When we conducted focus group interviews in the first municipality in Brazil before initiating the pilot project, a woman commented: Getting an appointment in the public sector municipal health services is like "winning the lottery." I would like to make it possible for many women and men in Latin America to win the lottery and receive the type of reproductive health services they so urgently need.
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Strategies for research and policy development must simultaneously address people's needs, the capacity of programs to provide good quality of care, and the range of technological options available.
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Nobody had counseled women to expect the changes in bleeding patterns which are typically associated with IUD use, and they received no support from the health clinics with their problems. Because in traditional Hindu culture menstruation is associated with a variety of social taboos, prolonged menstrual bleeding produced conflicts within families.
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We are trying to discover where this approach could have the greatest possibility of large-scale impact. We have to choose wisely and see where there is greatest interest and need.
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One of the things we have learned in the first year is that if you want to scale-up, the first thing you have to do is to expand your own team.
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International "experts" from technical assistance agencies or universities can make important contributions, but they certainly don't have all the answers. When ownership is local and national, and various stakeholders work together, program innovations have a greater chance to take root and survive.
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Probably the first time I was a boss was when I was associate dean of the graduate school at the University of Southern California. I was in my early 30s.
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the most important thing one can do for children is not accept the limitations they are so willing to impose on themselves.
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A longer time perspective is needed because we face a daunting task both in an intellectual and practical sense.
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