From left: Aaron Berkowitz works with Roosevelt François, inaugural graduate of Haiti’s first neurology fellowship.

The Brigham has more than a hundred neurologists on faculty, each with their own subspecialties. Yet until recently, Haiti, a country of nearly 11 million people, had only one. Aaron Berkowitz, MD, PhD, hopes to change that.

Following the island’s devastating 2010 earthquake, Berkowitz, director of the Brigham’s Global Neurology Program, was deeply moved by what he learned from his colleagues who had traveled to Haiti to assist with medical relief efforts. The disaster magnified how the country, especially its rural areas, was in dire need of specialized care.

“Most doctors in Haiti are general practitioners because there are no specialty training programs,” said Berkowitz. “If you go to medical school in a country with few or no neurologists, you have very minimal training in neurology to help patients with neurologic conditions.”

Six years ago, Berkowitz and his colleagues, including Michelle Morse, MD, MPH, assistant program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program and associate physician in the Division of Global Health Equity, resolved to remedy this shortage. They worked with global nonprofits Partners In Health and EqualHealth to teach neurology courses for internal and family medicine practitioners and trainees.

Following this, Berkowitz, Morse and their Haiti colleagues developed a four-week neurology rotation for five internal medicine residents at the Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais (HUM). Their subsequent success inspired Berkowitz and colleagues to start a new, more intensive program – thus, Haiti’s first neurology fellowship was born.

One applicant is chosen each year for the two-year fellowship, and the program is rigorous; the fellow cares for all neurology inpatients and outpatients at HUM and receives mentorship from about a dozen U.S.-based neurologists, each of whom spends one to 12 weeks teaching in Haiti annually.

Last year, the first fellow, Roosevelt François, MD, graduated from the program. He recently joined the hospital’s faculty and became director-in-training of the neurology clinical program and educational fellowship. With the second fellow set to graduate this fall and a third next year, the program is on track to reach its goal of a 500 percent increase in neurologists – from one to five – within five years.

The need for neurology care is especially critical in Haiti, Morse explained. The country has a disproportionately high rate of hypertension, which is a key risk factor for stroke, in addition to a high burden of epilepsy from neurologic infections.

Building a Pipeline

Berkowitz and Morse hope their latest milestone ignites a fast-growing, self-sustaining fellowship led by HUM faculty.

“This program is going to have an enormous impact on the next generation of health care professionals because it has this faculty pipeline built into it,” Morse said. “And, more importantly, it’s a step toward achieving what citizens of Haiti deserve: health care as a human right.”

Berkowitz expects the program will not only expand access to high-quality neurologic care in Haiti, but will also train a cohort of clinician-educators who will teach neurology to their peers and train more neurologists in Haiti. More broadly, he hopes it becomes a model that other health professionals in resource-poor settings can replicate to develop specialty training programs in partnership with visiting faculty.

“Haiti is just one country,” he said. “Around the world, patients who need specialized care often can only see their general practitioner, who has no one they can refer the patient to for specialized expertise. The need is endless, and we hope our program can inspire other clinician-educators to expand their teaching efforts beyond borders.”

Morse, who has worked on health equity initiatives in Haiti and beyond for more than a decade, said Berkowitz’s passion and dedication has positioned the project for long-term success.

“Aaron is one of my heroes for being so committed to this program,” she said. “No matter what challenge comes along, he never gives up.”