Today at noon at the Clinton School, Josh Ruxin will discuss his book A Thousand Hills to Heaven: Love, Hope and a Restaurant in Rwanda.

In the book, Ruxin recounts the trials of rebuilding a village from the ashes, then constructing a restaurant from scratch.  He makes the case that entrepreneurship and the private sector are the keys to long-term sustainability in Rwanda. 

Ruxin is assistant clinical professor of Public Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the founder of Health Builders, which improves management systems in 86 health centers across Rwanda and has constructed 5 health facilities serving 150,000 people. 

He is director of the Access Project, Rwanda Works, and the Millennium Villages Project in Rwanda. Dr. Ruxin has extensive experience operating at the intersection of public health, business, and international development. He has led projects in several developing countries and was an advisor to government and private sector leaders on business strategy and economic development. 

Dr. Ruxin was a Truman Scholar at Yale University, where he received his undergraduate degree, and a Marshall Scholar at the University of London. He is currently based in Kigali, Rwanda.