Harvard Medical School Instructor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Regan Bergmark, MD, FARS, who is also an Associate Surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital, was selected as the 2021 H. Richard Nesson Fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Her project, “Disparities in Timely Access to Quality Surgical Care at Brigham Health and in the Boston Community,” focuses on understanding inequities in timely access to local surgical care to improve access for local communities of color and individuals of low socioeconomic status.
Established in 1997, the H. Richard Nesson Fellowship is a two-year fellowship awarded to health care professionals interested in health care policy, local or state community health research, or other community clinical care that addresses society’s critical and emerging health care needs.
Delayed access to surgical care can lead to increased morbidity and mortality and are inequitably experienced by communities of color and individuals of low socioeconomic status. Moreover, people of color and those of low socioeconomic status are less likely to receive high-quality surgical care even if eminent services are nearby. Through the Nesson Fellowship, Bergmark aims to study inequities and barriers to timely surgical care at Brigham and Women's Hospital and across Mass General Brigham and then design an RO1 intervention trial to improve access for communities of color and individuals of low economic status in the Boston area.
Adapted from a news release from Brigham and Women's Hospital.