Global Health Institute

On April 4, 2023, Christopher King, dean of Georgetown’s School of Health, visited our Conversations in Health: Global to Local class to talk about his journey through a career in health as well as how structural racism impacts community health. Dean King has had a long career teaching and working in the health sector, working as assistant vice president for community health at Medstar, director for Greater Baden Medical Services, and many more. This conversation about his various jobs helped me to see some of the different roles that there are in the health care sector that do not have to involve going to medical school. Community health truly depends on everyone working together in the health care system and not only having good doctors, but having dedicated and compassionate teachers and workers.

In our Conversations in Health: Global to Local class on March 14, Maria Gomez (N’77) spoke about her mission in founding Mary’s Center. She began the center to serve pregnant women fleeing violence from war in Central America during the 1980s. Her primary focus was providing what people in the area actually needed to thrive, even when it extended beyond health services. In order to do this, Gomez drew on her experience making home visits for her patients, which allowed her to observe all of the factors that contributed to a person’s well-being—or lack thereof. Although the term “social health determinants” was not commonplace back then, the phenomenon was always present.