News and Highlights
June 2009
Department of Public Health Hosts 2009 Lubin Distinguished Visiting Professorship
Stephanie Joan Woolhandler, MD, MPH, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and one of the nation's leaders in health care reform, was the 2009 Lorraine and Ralph Lubin Distinguished Visiting Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College on May 6.
The Visiting Professorship was endowed by Dr. Madelon Lubin Finkel, Professor of Clinical Public Health and Director of the Office of Global Health Education, in memory of her parents, who strongly believed in the value of education as a means to making a difference in others' lives. Each recipient of the annual award has achieved the highest recognition in either the field of epidemiology or health care policy and is regarded as an excellent role model for students.
Dr. Woolhander has combined social activism and medicine throughout her career. In 1986 she cofounded Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), a not-for-profit organization for physicians, medical students, and other health care professionals who advocate for a national heath insurance program. Since 1987, Dr. Woolhandler has been on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, where she has conducted research and published on cutting-edge health policy issues. She currently she serves as co-director of the school's general internal medicine fellowship program. Dr. Woolhandler is also an attending physician at the Cambridge Hospital. She has received many honors and awards, including the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship by the Institute of Medicine.
As part of the daylong event, Dr. Woolhandler met with students taking the Public Health Clerkship, interested first- and second-year students, and faculty of the Department of Public Health. The highlight of the day was Dr. Woolhandler's lecture at the David Rogers Health Policy Colloquium. The topic of her talk was "Single-Payer Health Reform: A Medical Emergency."
In her talk, Dr. Woolhandler stated that health care in the United States is in crisis. Numerous unnecessary deaths occur because of lack of insurance, and both the uninsured and the insured often face bankruptcy because of costs associated with medical care. Meanwhile profits to private insurance companies continue to rise. The U.S. spends much more on health care than other countries yet its outcomes are not necessarily better. These extra costs are largely associated with an inefficient and dysfunctional health care system. Dr. Woolhandler argues that only a single payer model, similar to the plan currently in effect in Canada, would significantly reduce excess medical costs. She points out that the majority of physicians and most of the public support a single payer national health insurance. Reform is difficult to achieve, however, because private insurance companies continue to wield a great deal of political power.
