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Vanessa Kerry, MD, MSc

Director, Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change
CEO, Seed Global Health
Associate Professor of Medicine

Vanessa Kerry is the director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The program helps examine the underutilization of healthcare as a tool to address economic, social, and cultural disparities that define poor health domestically and internationally. The Program’s signature initiative is on health system strengthening and crisis response. Dr. Kerry is the founder and CEO of Seed Global Health, a non-profit that invests in health system strengthening by training needed health professionals in resource limited settings; these health professionals can not only provide quality care but can help train others ensuring there is pipeline of doctors, nurses and midwives for future generations. She is also a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and serves as the associate director of Partnerships and Global Initiatives at the hospital’s Center for Global Health.

Dr. Kerry graduated from Yale University summa cum laude and Harvard Medical School cum laude, completing her internal medicine residency and critical care fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. She earned her Master’s in Health Policy, Planning, and Financing from the London Schools of Economics and of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Affiliations:

  • Instructor in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Associate Director of Partnerships and Global Initiatives, Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health

Vanessa Kerry is the director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The program helps examine the underutilization of healthcare as a tool to address economic, social, and cultural disparities that define poor health domestically and internationally. The Program’s signature initiative is the Threatened Health System Initiative which specifically focuses on the opportunities for protecting health systems in crisis response especially by security and military actors. The Initiative’s goal is to strengthen policies around crisis response, to develop networks between security actors, health providers, iNGOs and others to improve problem solving, to engage in research to better understand the health systems’ vulnerability and the subsequent opportunities for improved response, and to provide technical support to build capacity in in these systems. Dr. Kerry is the founder and CEO of Seed Global Health, a non-profit that invests in health system strengthening by training needed health professionals in resource limited settings; through her work at Seed Global Health, she examines the role for and impact of improving human resources for health in these countries.

Globally inclusive investments in health: benefits at home and abroad.
Authors: Authors: Gupta V, Kerry VB.
BMJ
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Adapting global health aid in the face of climate change.
Authors: Authors: Gupta V, Mason-Sharma A, Caty SN, Kerry V.
Lancet Glob Health
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An Educational and Administrative Intervention to Promote Rational Laboratory Test Ordering on an Academic General Medicine Service.
Authors: Authors: Wertheim BM, Aguirre AJ, Bhattacharyya RP, Chorba J, Jadhav AP, Kerry VB, Macklin EA, Motyckova G, Raju S, Lewandrowski K, Hunt DP, Wright DE.
Am J Med
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The Global Health Service Partnership: An Academic-Clinical Partnership to Build Nursing and Medical Capacity in Africa.
Authors: Authors: Stuart-Shor EM, Cunningham E, Foradori L, Hutchinson E, Makwero M, Smith J, Kasozi J, Johnston EM, Khaki A, Vandervort E, Moshi F, Kerry VB.
Front Public Health
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Retrospective Descriptive Study of an Intensive Care Unit at a Ugandan Regional Referral Hospital.
Authors: Authors: Ttendo SS, Was A, Preston MA, Munyarugero E, Kerry VB, Firth PG.
World J Surg
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Politics and Universal Health Coverage--The Post-2015 Global Health Agenda.
Authors: Authors: Gupta V, Kerry VB, Goosby E, Yates R.
N Engl J Med
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In reply to "a call for better methodology for global mental health educational program reviews".
Authors: Authors: Tsai AC, Kerry VB.
Acad Psychiatry
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Maximizing the Impact of Training Initiatives for Health Professionals in Low-Income Countries: Frameworks, Challenges, and Best Practices.
Authors: Authors: Cancedda C, Farmer PE, Kerry V, Nuthulaganti T, Scott KW, Goosby E, Binagwaho A.
PLoS Med
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A cross-case comparative analysis of international security forces' impacts on health systems in conflict-affected and fragile states.
Authors: Authors: Bourdeaux M, Kerry V, Haggenmiller C, Nickel K.
Confl Health
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Leveraging opportunities for critical care in resource-limited settings.
Authors: Authors: Kerry VB, Sayeed S.
Glob Heart
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