Michelle Morse teaches social medicine to health professional students in Haiti.

There are countless examples demonstrating how faculty and trainees in the Division of Global Health Equity contribute to the Brigham’s vision for a healthier world by expanding access to care and championing educational programs in underserved communities across the globe. It would be impossible to recount them all, but here is one that resonated with me this past year.

Michelle Morse, MD, MPH, founded EqualHealth as a resident at BWH in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Her goal has been to strengthen the country’s medical and nursing education programs. Now a BWH hospitalist and faculty member in our division, Dr. Morse travels each summer to teach a social medicine course to health professional students in Haiti. She has also been instrumental in establishing accredited residency programs at the Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais, reinforcing BWH’s partnership in Haiti.

Dr. Morse, like other faculty in our division, is committed to teaching social medicine: the concept that social and economic factors have an incredible impact on health. Providers are routinely exposed to socioeconomic forces, but have limited training in how to respond. Dr. Morse works tirelessly to increase understanding of the social determinants of health, in the U.S. and globally, and to expand how clinicians are trained to view these factors in patient care.

Jennifer Goldsmith
Director of Administration, Division of Global Health Equity