Blaise Aguirre M.D.
Medical Director, McLean Hospital
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
John Meara M.D.
Plastic Surgeon-in-Chief, Boston Children’s Hospital
Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Kletjian Professor of Global Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Jim O’Connell M.D.
President, Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
“Distinguished Notre Dame Humanitarians” Talk Series
May 2017
Boston College Club
“Stemming the Tide of Teen Suicide”
by Blaise Aguirre M.D.
The Role of Connectedness and Behavioral Skills: In 2016 a New York Times headline read: “It Is Now Just As Likely For Middle School Students To Die From Suicide As From Traffic Accidents.” Blaise will be presenting data on the quiet epidemic of teen suicide, and role of mindfulness and behavioral skills, rather than medication in tackling the tragic problem.
“Global Surgery and Health System Strengthening”
by Dr. John Meara
There are presently about 5 billion people who do not have access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care. About 80 million people per year are forced into poverty seeking surgery. The health care disparity and social injustice is truly profound.
Over the last 5 years there has been a rapid acknowledgment of the foundational role of surgical care in health system strength and overall population health. The World Bank, World Health Organization and the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery each had landmark publications in 2015 that highlighted this issue. The Program in Global Surgery and Social Change at Harvard Medical School has been working on implementing the recommendations of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery working with ministries of health on national level surgical strategic planning and data collection.
“Lessons from the Streets: Three Decades Caring for Boston’s Rough Sleepers”
by Dr. James O’Connell
A graduate of the class of 1970 and the founding physician of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, will describe the burden of medical and behavioral health issues borne by the homeless, share his experiences providing medical care directly on the streets and illuminate the humanity and raw courage of those who struggle to survive and find meaning and hope while living on the streets.
Blaise Aguirre, MD
He is an expert in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a therapy that targets suicidality and self-injury. He is the founding medical director of 3East, a residential DBT program for young women exhibiting self-endangering behaviors and borderline personality disorder (BPD) traits. Dr. Aguirre has been a staff psychiatrist at McLean Hospital since 2000 and is nationally and internationally recognized for his extensive work in the treatment of mood and personality disorders in adolescents. He lectures regularly in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East on BPD and DBT.
Dr. Aguirre is the author of
1) Borderline Personality Disorder in Adolescents: A Complete Guide to Understanding and Coping When Your Adolescent Has BPD
2) Depression (Biographies of Disease).
3) He is a co-author of Mindfulness for Borderline Personality Disorder: Relieve Your Suffering Using the Core Skill of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and
4) Helping Your Troubled Teen: Learn to Recognize, Understand, and Address the Destructive Behavior of Today’s Teens.
John G. Meara, MD, DMD, MBA
He is the Kletjian Professor of Global Surgery in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change at Harvard Medical School, Plastic Surgeon-in-Chief at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Co-Chair of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery (www.lancetglobalsurgery.org). He is also the Vice-Chair of the Health Policy Advisory Group for the American College of Surgeons. Since 2008, he has Co-Directed the Paul Farmer Global Surgery Fellowship program in collaboration with Partners In Health.
James J. O’Connell, MD
President, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
He has received degrees from the University of Notre Dame, Cambridge University and Harvard Medical School, where he is an assistant professor of medicine. Dr. O’Connell began full-time clinical work with homeless individuals as the founding physician of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, which now serves over 13,000 homeless persons each year in two hospital-based clinics (BMC and MGH) and in more than 60 shelters and outreach sites in Boston. He established the nation’s first medical respite program for homeless persons, the Barbara McInnis House, and designed and implemented the nation’s first computerized medical record for a homeless program. He is the author of the book Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor.