Stories of institutional and local policy change from Harvard’s Cambridge Health Alliance

Abstract

In May of 2017, myself and five other first and second year McGill Medical students embarked on a cultural exchange with Harvard medical students.  This is an annual program run by Dr. Semaan, professor at Harvard Medical School, and McGill Medicine graduate. During the exchange, we had the opportunity to attend some pointed lectures which had the goal of illustrating some of the realities of the health care system in the Cambridge-Boston area.  This article is a reflection on the talk given by Dr. David Bor of the Cambridge Health Alliance titled “Cambridge Health Alliance: A Public, Academic Community-Responsive Health Care System”, wherein he provided inspiring personal stories of institutional and policy change pursuits he was involved in in response to needs of the local population.