27 Catching up with past leaders Marc Altshuler 2016 Health Leader Marc Altshuler, M.D., is director of the Jefferson Center for Refu- gee Health at Thomas Jefferson University. He is also associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Jefferson. Fewer refugees are coming to the United States now than in 2016, Dr. Altshuler says. But he still is busy helping people who come to the Jefferson Center for Refugee Health. “In 2016, 75,000 to 80,000 refugees were coming to the United States each year,” says Dr. Altshuler.  “Now 20,000 to 25,000 refugees are coming each year.” Refugees are people who are forced to leave their home country because of war, persecution, or natural disaster and cannot safely return, ac- cording to the United Nations Refugee Agency. “It doesn’t matter if they have money or not or what the color of their skin is, we take care of everybody,” Dr. Altshuler says. Usually, refugees who need help come to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. But Dr. Altshuler and other medical experts from the Jefferson Center for Refugee Health are trying to help refugees where they live. By next year they plan to open a new building in South Philadelphia where refugees can take care of many needs. “There will be a doctor’s office, classrooms where they can learn how to speak English, and maybe exercise classes,” Dr. Altshuler says. He has been inspired by the stories he hears from the refugees—many of whom have come from halfway across the world. They tell him about the tough things they went through and how they have had to leave everything behind to come here. “I am very lucky that I get to take care of people who need my help,” Dr. Altshuler says. —By Healthy Reporter staff Whitehall Elementary School Updates from some of the more than 80 health leaders who have been interviewed by Healthy NewsWorks student journalists in earlier years for the Leading Healthy Change In Our Communities book series.