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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.

Cardiac critical care in resource-limited environments: lessons from Tanzania.
Authors: Authors: Chillo P, Humphrey SH, Meda J, Kerry VB.
Glob Heart
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Critical care in resource-limited settings.
Authors: Authors: Kerry VB, Narula J.
Glob Heart
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Global health training in US graduate psychiatric education.
Authors: Authors: Tsai AC, Fricchione GL, Walensky RP, Ng C, Bangsberg DR, Kerry VB.
Acad Psychiatry
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The global health service partnership: teaching for the world.
Authors: Authors: Mullan F, Kerry VB.
Acad Med
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Rwanda 20 years on: investing in life.
Authors: Authors: Binagwaho A, Farmer PE, Nsanzimana S, Karema C, Gasana M, de Dieu Ngirabega J, Ngabo F, Wagner CM, Nutt CT, Nyatanyi T, Gatera M, Kayiteshonga Y, Mugeni C, Mugwaneza P, Shema J, Uwaliraye P, Gaju E, Muhimpundu MA, Dushime T, Senyana F, Mazarati JB, Gaju CM, Tuyisenge L, Mutabazi V, Kyamanywa P, Rusanganwa V, Nyemazi JP, Umutoni A, Kankindi I, Ntizimira C, Ruton H, Mugume N, Nkunda D, Ndenga E, Mubiligi JM, Kakoma JB, Karita E, Sekabaraga C, Rusingiza E, Rich ML, Mukherjee JS, Rhatigan J, Cancedda C, Bertrand-Farmer D, Bukhman G, Stulac SN, Tapela NM, van der Hoof Holstein C, Shulman LN, Habinshuti A, Bonds MH, Wilkes MS, Lu C, Smith-Fawzi MC, Swain JD, Murphy MP, Ricks A, Kerry VB, Bush BP, Siegler RW, Stern CS, Sliney A, Nuthulaganti T, Karangwa I, Pegurri E, Dahl O, Drobac PC.
Lancet
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Global Health Service Partnership: building health professional leadership.
Authors: Authors: Kerry VB, Mullan F.
Lancet
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In reply.
Authors: Authors: Hung KJ, Tsai AC, Johnson TR, Walensky RP, Bangsberg DR, Kerry VB.
Obstet Gynecol
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US medical specialty global health training and the global burden of disease.
Authors: Authors: Kerry VB, Walensky RP, Tsai AC, Bergmark RW, Bergmark BA, Rouse C, Bangsberg DR.
J Glob Health
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Scope of global health training in U.S. obstetrics and gynecology residency programs.
Authors: Authors: Hung KJ, Tsai AC, Johnson TR, Walensky RP, Bangsberg DR, Kerry VB.
Obstet Gynecol
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Influence of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPfAR) on career choices and emigration of health-profession graduates from a Ugandan medical school: a cross-sectional study.
Authors: Authors: Bajunirwe F, Twesigye L, Zhang M, Kerry VB, Bangsberg DR.
BMJ Open
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