The Harvard Home for Family Medicine builds upon the growing community of HMS family medicine students, residents, and attendings engaged in family medicine education, research, and mentorship opportunities. While most of our more active participants are based within the Harvard system, our Harvard Medical School students often graduate to residencies further afield. In this series, we’re thrilled to spotlight what some of our recent HMS Family Medicine students have gone on to achieve.

Although the term health equity is widely used, a common understanding of this term is lacking. Viewing health equity through the lenses of allostatic load and intersectionality could help. This blog post considers three case scenarios, all of which are composites of actual cases that have occurred within the United States, to explore ideas of health equity related to intersectionality and the concept of allostatic load. Case 1 A young, black woman was admitted to Labor & Delivery and progressing well in her own labor. Shortly after ...

Broken can often be healed. A fall, a thunderous crash, the screech of fragments flying in many directions. Find the pieces, line them back up again, stick them together somehow, and voila. Sometimes it doesn’t hold, sometimes it takes a long time for the adhesive to fully set, but at some point the pieces come back together. Not quite the same as before, but not so far off either. What is to be done, however, with brittleness? Shattering with a puff of a breeze, breaking in two, leaking salt water with no more force than a gaze. Moving further and ...

Author: Caroline Barnaby, MLA “Your dad was feeling dizzy today after a dip in the ocean. He thinks he might be experiencing vertigo from swimmer’s ear,” remarked my mum during our weekly phone conversation. “I’m going to schedule an appointment with his doctor, just in case.” It was the summer of 2018, and my dad had just retired after a 42-year career as an elementary school physical education teacher for ...

This article originally appeared in HealthManagement.org The connection between great leaders and successful organizations that effectively innovate to remain competitive and provide shareholder value has been well demonstrated in business. To that end, many industries have, for decades, offered leadership development and training programs as a strategy to cultivate a pipeline of leaders; leadership development as an industry is valued at over $15 billion ...

I recently had the amazing opportunity to both witness and participate in an event where my Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) pediatric mentor received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her many years of exemplary service to the pediatric community of Southern New Jersey. My mentor’s leadership, compassion, and dedication to serve the Latino community has set an example, not only for patients and their families, but for generations of pediatricians who have come to depend on her for strong mentorship and wise guidance. As her mentee, it was a proud moment to watch my ...

My patient sat back in her chair, shoulders curled forward over her substantial belly, two canes leaning against the counter next to her. “No, doctor, I need you to say that you WILL make this happen, not that you will ‘try’. Can you say that?” It was an uncomfortable moment. As a physician I am not used to having my words dictated to me, and I did not take to it very well. She was about to be released from rehabilitation, recovering from surgery. She usually lives in her own home, by herself, but with a support team due to her serious mental and ...

In the early evenings after work, I thoroughly enjoy taking brisk walks. Walks are a great opportunity to exercise of course, but I also cherish making time for myself to process the many thoughts that can occupy the mind of a busy wife, mother, pediatrician and medical director. My walks are typically the only time of the day when I can quietly meditate, ruminate, prioritize concerns or simply restore my soul. As I walk, I get to see families pushing strollers filled with young children, dogs walking their humans, and even the stray teenager riding a scooter or bike around the ...

The Harvard Home for Family Medicine builds upon the growing community of HMS family medicine students, residents, and attendings engaged in family medicine education, research, and mentorship opportunities. While most of our more active participants are based within the Harvard system, our Harvard Medical School students often graduate to residencies further afield. In this series, we’re thrilled to spotlight what some of our recent HMS Family Medicine students have gone on to achieve. Name: Sara ...