Dr. Beauchamp on Global Health and the Future of Medicine
On April 21, 2026, my peers and I had the pleasure of meeting with Norman J. Beauchamp, M.D., the executive vice president for health sciences and executive dean of the School of Medicine at Georgetown University. Previously a leader of health organizations at Michigan State University, the University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, and now Georgetown, he has dedicated his career to integrating an interdisciplinary approach to medicine, emphasizing the humanities and cross-department collaboration.
When talking with us, Dr. Beauchamp emphasized the guiding principle that spurred him to pursue medicine — the importance of doing the best you can for others. Inspired by his mom, a public health worker, he sought to do so by pursuing medicine. Throughout his clinical career, he earned accolades in clinical radiology practice and research. Even after ending his clinical career, he started leading health care institutions, allowing him the ability to impact populations at once and improve their lives for the better.
When deciding to lead the School of Medicine at Georgetown, he did so to improve health on a global level: something he thought Georgetown was uniquely positioned to do. Considering past U.S. attempts to improve global health, he described them as a “cavalry”: storming into countries without knowledge of their cultures and producing ideas that were not always beneficial for locals. Now, under his guidance, the Georgetown University Medical Center is working to approach global health with an in-country stability model, enabling countries to establish self-sufficient health institutions. This approach echoes the approach of many other speakers in our Conversations in Health: Global to Local class, such as Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli.
Reflecting on his talk with us, I think most prominently of the pieces of advice he offered us as young professionals and students. Firstly, he told us that he approaches life as a gap analysis and urges us to do the same. Essentially, he seeks out the gaps that exist within the world and closes them, ensuring that you find the best version of yourself and put it out in the world. Additionally, he urged us to find mentors we admired, people who were really accomplishing things, and evaluate their success. He was able to combine these two life principles throughout his academic and medical career. Reaching out to mentors he admired, such as his metaphysics professor, he discovered there was a humanities-shaped gap within medicine. And ever since then, he has been leading health care institutions and young people interested in health care, trying to close that gap.
Tiffany Tsuang (H’27) is an undergraduate student majoring in healthcare management and policy at Georgetown University.