Monica Bharel, MPH ’12, named Mass. health commissioner

Monica Bharel, MPH '12, (right) with a patient

Massachusetts Governor-elect Charlie Baker has named Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) alumna Monica Bharel, MPH ’12, as the new head of the state’s Department of Public Health. Bharel currently is chief medical officer at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.

As state health commissioner, Bharel will oversee a department responsible for regulating hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities, in addition to running a wide ranging of programs focused on areas such as substance abuse and infectious diseases.

“Monica has an electric personality,” Jim O’Connell, president of Health Care for the Homeless, said in a December 24, 2014 Boston Globe article. “She is focused, and about as committed and compassionate as anyone you would ever know, and has a lightning-quick mind.”

Doctor for poor chosen as Mass. health commissioner (Boston Globe)

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Why Public Health? Monica Bharel
In this video interview recorded in 2012 while she was a student at HSPH, Bharel talks about how her degree in public health will help her provide better care for her patients.