| Lawrence (Larry) Brilliant | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 5, 1944 Detroit, Michigan, USA |
| Residence | USA |
| Fields | 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. |
Lawrence "Larry" Brilliant is an American physician, epidemiologist, technologist, author, and the former director of Google's philanthropic arm Google.org.[1] Brilliant, a technology patent holder, has been CEO of two public companies and other venture backed start ups. From 1973 to 1976, he participated in the successful World Health Organization (WHO) smallpox eradication program. In April 2009, he was chosen to oversee the "Skoll Global Threats Fund" established by eBay co-founder Jeff Skoll.[2]
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Born in Detroit, Michigan (May 5, 1944), he received his undergraduate training as well as his MPH degree (Masters in Public Health) from the University of Michigan, where he worked on the staff of the Gargoyle Humor Magazine, and his M.D. from Wayne State University School of Medicine. He moved to California for his internship at the California Pacific Medical Center, and developed thyroid cancer from which he recovered. Brilliant is board certified in preventive medicine and public health.
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.[3]
After the US government forced the Indians of All Tribes off Alcatraz, Brilliant became a media darling which led to a movie company casting him in Medicine Ball Caravan—a sequel to the hit Woodstock Nation—playing a doctor in a film about a tribe of hippies who follow the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, and Joni Mitchell.[4] The cast was paid with airline tickets to India. Brilliant and some others cashed their tickets in and rented a bus to drive around Europe, which then turned into a relief convoy to help victims of the 1970 Bhola cyclone in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan).
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.[5]
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.
Brilliant is married to Girija (formerly Elaine) and has three children: Joe, Jon, and Iris. Girija holds a PhD in public health administration and is an equal partner in many of her husband's enterprises. Co-founder of Seva Foundation,[12] she was instrumental in the World Health Organization's smallpox eradication program.
Brilliant acted as an extra in the 1971 Bollywood movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna, which depicts hippie culture. He said, "When shooting for the song sequence 'Dum Maro Dum' (which glorifies smoking marijuana), Dev Anand was looking for certain types of foreigners..."[13]