Contact: Richard Gulla
781-434-7101
rgulla@mms.org
Marie-Louise Jean-Baptiste, M.D.
Waltham, Mass. -- March 18 -- Marie-Louise Jean-Baptiste, M.D., a physician with Cambridge Health Alliance, has been honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society as the first recipient of its Reducing Health Disparities Award, an honor recognizing an individual who has made outstanding contributions to reducing health disparities due to race, socioeconomic status, age, education, or sexual orientation.
In nominating her for the honor, Dr. Jean-Baptiste’s colleagues at Cambridge Health Alliance recognized her as an “admired and ardent educator and a paragon clinician, one who has blessed our community and the medical profession with a lifetime of tireless commitment to justice for the disadvantaged with great results.”
Board certified in internal medicine, Dr. Jean-Baptiste has practiced primary care at CHA’s Windsor Street Health Center in Cambridge since 2009. A 1979 graduate of the Faculty of Medicine of Haiti, she completed her internship and residency at CHA’s Cambridge Hospital from 1986-1989, and following her residency and a Clinical Fellowship at Harvard Medical School, she joined the staff of Cambridge Hospital.
Besides her clinical responsibilities, Dr. Jean-Baptiste has been Director of Minority Affairs for CHA Cambridge Hospital since 2005 and Medical Director for CHA’s Health Care for the Homeless program since 2009. In 2011, she took on additional duties as CHA liaison to the University of Notre Dame in Haiti. In 1989, she was appointed an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and in 2002 was named Assistant Professor of Medicine.
Dr. Jean-Baptiste also shares her health care knowledge through a weekly radio program. For the last three years, she has produced and hosted a weekly radio program on 1550 WNTN for the Creole-speaking community, focusing on a wide variety of health topics.
The Massachusetts Medical Society’s Reducing Health Disparities Award is the latest of many honors accorded to Dr. Jean-Baptiste. Among them are the Dean’s Community Service Achievement Medal and the Charles McCabe Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching, both from Harvard Medical School; the Community Award from the Collaboration of Haitian Providers for World AIDS Day; the Caregiver Award from Cambridge Care About AIDS; a Community Award from the Haitian American Solidarity Alliance for medical services given to the Haitian Community; and an award from the NAACP for medical services to the Cambridge community.
The Massachusetts Medical Society, with some 25,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society, under the auspices of NEJM Group, publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch alerts and newsletters covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education providing accredited and certified activities across the globe for physicians and other health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. For more information please visit www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org, or www.jwatch.org.
