Persevering to Improve Care: A BWH physician researcher in Haiti

Reprinted from BWH President’s Perspective November 2019

Serena Koenig, MD, MPH

When infectious disease specialist Serena Koenig, MD, of our Division of Global Health Equity, first traveled to Haiti 15 years ago, she was overwhelmed by what she witnessed: devastating poverty and a health care system in shambles. Since then, she has committed her career to providing dignified health care to the people of Haiti and relentlessly pursuing research to advance that work in the face of heartbreaking conditions.

Today, Haiti is in crisis. Dr. Koenig, who collaborates closely with an internationally celebrated Haitian organization called GHESKIO, recently had the harrowing experience of being unable to hear co-workers during a meeting due to the noise of gunfire outside. Continue reading “Persevering to Improve Care: A BWH physician researcher in Haiti”

Engaging Patients, Elevating Care

GHDonline.org, the platform of expert-led communities by the Global Health Delivery Project, is hosting two exciting virtual expert panels next week as part of the Partners HealthCare Connected Health Symposium.

How can doctors and patients work together to create the next generation of tools for improving health care delivery? What are the barriers and facilitators for using technology to enable patient-centered care and better coordination of care? These are some of the questions that will be discuss with select speakers from the symposium and experts. These virtual expert panels are free and open to all.

Find out more about how you can participate.

Virtual Communities Link Health Care Professionals


Thousands of health care professionals across the country have a new opportunity to share resources, ideas and information thanks to an innovative concept in medicine – the virtual community.  The first virtual community that is part of a federal grant awarded to Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Global Health Delivery Project (GHD) went public in June.

“The US Communities Initiative will enrich GHD’s online platform through a continued exchange of ideas between new and seasoned professionals across geographies,” said Rebecca Weintraub, MD, an associate physician in the Division of Global Health Equity and faculty director of the GHD.  “The virtual communities will facilitate an important cross-pollination of ideas, as well as the dissemination of new, translatable knowledge, for health care professionals working in the United States and around the world.”

The grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will enable GHD to host six professional virtual communities and 36 virtual expert panels on www.GHDonline.org over the next three years.  Topics will range from the Affordable Care Act to mental health integration with a goal of sharing innovative ways to deliver evidence-based health care to underserved communities in the United States. Interested health care professionals are invited to join GHDonline and shape the US Communities Initiative by suggesting future discussions.