RAM Founder to Receive 2010 Inamori Ethics Prize at Case Western Reserve University

CLEVELAND, April 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Stan Brock, the humanitarian who has been delivering free health care worldwide through his nonprofit organization Remote Area Medical (RAM) for 25 years, will receive the 2010 Inamori Ethics Prize, awarded by the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence at Case Western Reserve University on September 1 at the Inamori International Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

He joins Dr. Francis S. Collins, previous leader of the Human Genome Project, and The Honorable Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, as winners of the prize.

A native of Great Britain and former host of the popular NBC television series "Wild Kingdom," Brock's experiences living and working as a bush pilot in the central Amazon basin of Guyana inspired him to create RAM. Brock saw firsthand how people suffer without accessible medical services.

"It's very easy to become overwhelmed by all the suffering in the world and feel like there's nothing you can do to help," said Shannon French, director of the Inamori Center.  "Stan Brock's story teaches us that if we are willing to tackle just one problem with passion and persistence, we can make a real difference.  The work of RAM has improved and even saved thousands of lives and touched countless hearts."

Brock also realized just as people in developing countries often travel hours or days to see a doctor, similar circumstances exist for people in the United States. Even in urban centers, Americans without insurance feel distant from medical services.

In 1992, Brock began to focus RAM efforts in the United States, where the organization now provides 64 percent of its services. But U.S. laws that prohibit health care professionals from practicing across state lines hampered Brock's early outreach.  RAM is  headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn.

RAM healthcare providers have served hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands of animals.  RAM projects include the Guyana Air Ambulance service, the Guyana Cervical Cancer Project, and the Rural America Program.   RAM conducts its medical missions wherever they are needed from conflict-torn East Africa to post-earthquake Haiti.  Nicknamed "Saint Stan," Brock himself takes no salary and lives in an abandoned schoolhouse in Tennessee with no luxuries of any kind.  He has no family or other pursuits, working tirelessly day after day to bring healthcare and hope to desperate people.

SOURCE Case Western Reserve University