Notre Dame graduate student missing, presumed dead, in Haiti

Author: Michael O. Garvey

Jean Joseph Dorvil, a graduate student at the University of Notre Dame, is missing and presumed dead after an incident in a notoriously dangerous area adjacent to the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.p. A witness reported that on Saturday (Dec. 11) Dorvil, a 29-year-old native of Arcahaie, Haiti, was shot while failing to stop at a checkpoint manned by violentchimères,the armed gangs which claim loyalty to former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.He had been traveling with two foreign nationals to visit the Arcahaie area.

Dorvil, who was pursuing a masters of science in administration degree, was the program administrator in a Notre Dame-sponsored, Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation-funded program to research, treat and eliminate lymphatic filariasis, a tropical disease which leaves some with lifelong disability.The program, directed by Rev. Thomas G. Streit, C.S.C., research assistant professor of biological sciences at Notre Dame, is headquartered in Hôpital Ste. Croix, the 120 bed general hospital and health care network serving Leogane, a community of some 200,000 people on the southern peninsula of Haiti.Under the direction of the Haitian governments health ministry, Dorvil coordinated Notre Dames role, together with partners such as the local hospital network and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control&Prevention.

Contact: Office of Student Affairs at 574-631-5550

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