Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced the appointment of Dr. Joseph Betancourt, director of the Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, to the Boston Public Health Commission’s Board of Health. Dr. Betancourt succeeds Hortensia Amaro, a Northeastern University professor and director of the university’s Institute on Urban Health Research, who resigned from the board in September after serving seven and a half years. Dr. Betancourt will begin his tenure when the Board of Health meets in January.
“Dr. Betancourt will enable us to continue our progress and leadership in promoting the health and well-being of all Boston residents, particularly those who are most vulnerable,” Mayor Menino said. “I am excited to have Dr. Betancourt’s insight and experience to help guide public health policy in our city.”
Dr. Betancourt, a member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School, is nationally recognized for his expertise in the field of racial and ethnic health disparities, cross-cultural medicine, minority recruitment into the health professions, and minority health and health policy research.
A key partner in Boston’s efforts to close the disparities gap, Dr. Betancourt has served on several Institute of Medicine (IOM) committees, including the Committee for Guidance in Designing a National Health Care Disparities Report, the Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health, and the IOM’s Roundtable on Health Literacy. Dr. Betancourt also served as a member of the Massachusetts Special Commission to End Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
“It is an honor to be named to the Boston Public Health Commission's Board of Health, and I am thankful to Mayor Menino for putting his trust in me,” Dr. Betancourt said. “I look forward to working with the members of the Board and the wonderful and talented leadership of the Boston Public Health Commission. I will certainly do all I can to assure that Boston becomes one of the healthiest cities in the nation, and that all residents, regardless of their background, benefit equally from our work.”
Currently an internal medicine practitioner at MGH, Dr. Betancourt received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland, his medical degree from the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Following his residency, he completed The Commonwealth Fund-Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy, and received his Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Betancourt is of Puerto Rican descent and is fluent in Spanish.
The Boston Public Health Commission is governed by a board of seven members who serve staggered three-year terms. As mandated by the Boston Public Health Act of 1995, six board members are appointed by the mayor of Boston; the seventh member is the chief executive officer of Boston Medical Center and serves ex-officio. The mayor appoints the Chairperson of the Board of Health, currently Dr. Paula A. Johnson, chief of women’s health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
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