MAO Staff

Joseph R. Betancourt, M.D., M.P.H.

Senior Scientist, Institute for Health Policy
Program Director for Multicultural Education, Multicultural Affairs Office
Massachusetts General Hospital

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Betancourt’s primary interests include cross-cultural medicine, minority recruitment into the health professions, and minority health/health policy research. He has served as Principal Investigator on grants from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Commonwealth Fund, and is currently Principal Investigator on projects funded by the California Endowment, the Commonwealth fund, in addition to being co-investigator on a project funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Health Resources and Services Administration. Dr. Betancourt has served on several Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committees, including those that produced “Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health Care”, “Guidance for a National Health Care Disparities Report”, and “In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce.” He also sat on the Physician’s for Human Rights Blue Ribbon Panel on Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health. Dr. Betancourt served on the CDC’s National Expert Council for the Diabetes Today Program, and currently Co-Chairs the MGH Disparities Committee. He is also reviewer for the American Medical Association’s Journal Consortium and Annals of Internal Medicine. Dr. Betancourt has written peer-reviewed articles on topics including racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care; hypertension, diabetes, and cerebrovascular disease in minority communities; cross-cultural care and education; ethics; workforce diversity; and the impact of language barriers on health care. Dr. Betancourt also teaches cross-cultural medicine, health disparities, and health policy to medical students and residents at MGH-Harvard Medical School and to students at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Betancourt received his Bachelor of Science 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 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. He served as Associate Director of the Center for Multicultural and Minority Health at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Medical College of Cornell University before returning to Harvard.