Wendy Sternberg, MD's Page

What motivated you (or your organization) to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?

1) Very committted to impacting the dynamic in the Middle East as a committed global citizen and Jewish-American woman

2) In 1999 I founded and have since directed Genesis at the Crossroads, (GATC) a Chicago-based NGO dedicated to bridging cultures in conflict through the arts - namely to create and implement innovative performance, arts-education and humanitarian programs worldwide. (please see below)


3) As a dancer, visual artist, former classical flutist, world traveler and great appreciator of the arts in general, I believe in the power of art as a universal language and a neutral and creative space/vehicle to unite diverse peoples.

Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself or the work of your organization (no more than 3 paragraphs)

Wendy Sternberg, MD – GATC Founder & Executive Director - For her work on GATC, Wendy has been featured numerous times as a WBEZ/NPR guest on Eight Forty-Eight and Worldview, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and UN Radio. She also appeared as a guest on CBS, ABC 7 & Channel 5 News Chicago, WTTW TV and WCIU TV. She and GATC have been the subject of numerous articles in The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun Times, The LA Times and The Washington Post, The Bangkok Post, The Chicago Reader, and JUF News, among many others. She was named Finalist for the 2003 Fourth Annual Susan F. Berkowitz Award for Teaching Tolerance to Children, was featured as a Woman to Watch in Chicago in the January 2004 issue of Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine, and was nominated in 2004 for Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 Award. In 2005, she was featured in Chicago Magazine and was elected to the Illinois Arts Council’s Ethnic and Folk Arts Program Advisory Panel for 2006-9. Cook County Treasurer, Maria Pappas presented her with the 2006 Award of Excellence and she was featured in a cover story by Chicago Jewish News as one of the 10 Jewish Chicagoans of the Year (2006.) In 2007, she presented GATC to the National Conference of Children’s Museums’ Diversity in Action Showcase, (Chicago,) to Consul Generals, Mayors, university deans & students, architects and the media (Casablanca, Morocco) and also to members of Congress, DC-based interest groups and the media at the Alliance for Middle East Peace Conference on Capitol Hill. She is the recipient of the 2007 Publicity Club of Chicago’s Silver Trumpet Award in Issues Management & the Wilmette Rotary Club’s 2008 Frankel Award for fostering cross-cultural understanding worldwide. Rotary International recently named her a Paul Harris Fellow. She was one of 26 global leaders selected from 18 countries to participate in the 2009 Rotary International Peace& Conflict Studies Program at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, 2009.

She earned both a BA in French literature with a semester abroad in Paris, and an MD at University of Pennsylvania. With international educational grants and foundation support over the years, she studied Hebrew, led a Project Renewal Program for children in an Israeli North-African resettlement community and extended her medical studies to include Third World pediatrics in India. Wendy completed a 14-year career in Internal Medicine and her role as Teaching Faculty at Northwestern University Medical School at the end of 2008. Among her many hobbies, she has Israeli-folk danced for 19 years and hiked all over the world.

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you (or your organization) have direct and significant expertise

United States
Morocco
Jordan
Egypt
Iran, Israel and the Palestinian Territories - in progress

What is your current country of residence (or location of your organization)?

United States

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

Founder & Executive Director, Genesis at the Crossroads

What is your personal or organizational website?

http://www.gatc.org

What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)

http://www.sfcg.org

Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise (or the primary sectoral areas of your organization) ?

Conflict Resolution, Culture, Dialogue, Education, Humanitarian Relief, Social Entreprenuership

Which are your primary skills areas(or the primary skill areas of your organization)?

Budgeting, Capacity Building, Communication, Curriculum Development, Fundraising, Program Administration, Program Design

What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?

international education and arts-education
community and society healing

If appropriate feel free to list several of your (or your organization's) publications

none...yet

Currently working on a few NPR submisions for "In This I Believe" and and op-ed piece for the New York Times.

In the next year I will produce a series of essays that will ultimately be the framework for the chapters in my comprehensive memoir about my personal journey from medicine to the arts not-for-profit/NGO arena.