The Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at Harvard University

Dr. Alden Landry

Alden Landry, MD, MPH, is an emergency physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is Assistant Dean at the Harvard Medical School Office of Diversity and Community Partnership, Advisor and Associate Director of the Castle Society and Senior Faculty at the Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is associate program director of the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship at Harvard University. In this interview, he discusses his experiences as a graduate of the program, attributes the fellowship looks for in applicants, and changes to the application process.

Interviewed by Bailee Jacobsen, DO, 2nd year emergency medicine resident at Loyola University Medical Center. 

Edited by Kian Preston-Suni, MD, MPH

Application information available at: https://cff.hms.harvard.edu//how-apply

For further questions or information about the fellowship, email mfdp_cff@hms.harvard.edu 

This is a unique interview in that you are an alumnus of the fellowship and now associate program director, can you discuss what originally drew you to the fellowship and what drove you to apply?

When I started residency, I fully anticipated I was going to be a community doc. I thought I was going to do my 3 years of residency, and then go work in a community and live a very different life than I do now. But it was some time during my 2nd year of residency, where I had a patient experience that was health equity based, to do with patient placement and hallway space, and it opened my eyes to the systemic level issues within EM that need to be addressed. My background has always been in work force diversity, so I figured I would do something along those lines. In my mind, I was going to be a community doc and do work force diversity things. What I recognized, was that I would be in a better position to be a part of the change that I wanted to see if I was in academic medicine. It was that patient experience that really made me say, “What are we doing? What should I be doing? How can I learn more about it?” I think there is a difference between being passionate and knowledgeable about something, and I was becoming more passionate about workforce diversity issues, but knew that I needed to become more knowledgeable. So I looked for fellowship opportunities, and this one happened to be across the street from me at Harvard Medical School. It is that perfect mix of learning policy, expanding your knowledge of public health, but also networking. It was through this fellowship that I really matured in this space, and had a better understanding of not just the language of conversations about social justice and equity, but also knowing who to talk to and how to leverage their pressure points in order to get to the change you would like to see.

Can you briefly describe your life as a Commonwealth Fund Fellow? Did you continue to work clinically in the ED?

I worked about 8 shifts a month clinically while doing the fellowship. The fellowship involves getting an MPH and doing fellowship related activities, which are site visits, shadowing of leaders, completing a practical project, leadership development, writing, things along those lines. Because I knew my coursework and fellowship schedule, I was able to negotiate shifts around that. I admit, I worked more weekends and evening shifts than most of my colleagues, but it is something you can do for a year. I was still able to build my clinical skills as a young attending and also participate in the program.

What was one of your main projects during fellowship?

So I did a project looking at the Commission of Health Care Disparities of Massachusetts, basically it was a review of the Commission and what worked for it and didn’t work for it. It was really interesting because you could see politics in action.  This Commission was created to look at how to address health care disparities in the state. It had a lot of buy in from the hospital systems, the public health community, the insurance companies, but politics came into play when you started talking more about money and how funding would be distributed. The ultimate downfall of the committee, was when one of the members of the committee was convicted of bribery and fraud. That being said there were a lot of gains that came from the Commission. It was very interesting talking with politicians shortly afterwards. I did a case-study review talking with different politicians, and some refused to speak with me because they did not want anyone to know their involvement due to the negative light cast on the committee based on this one person. I learned a lot about how politics work and how money is such a huge player in health and health care.

What opportunities did you feel the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship provided you as you advanced your career?

One of the biggest things that is under appreciated in an experience like this is the network. There are over 130 graduates from the fellowship and it is a close knit family that emails each other with job and leadership opportunities, we invite each other to collaborate on papers together, one of my mentors from the program had me working on one of his projects at the Disparities Solutions Center, it has afforded me a job and access to his network. The networking is something that you cannot underestimate its value. Otherwise, having an MPH gives you a language. We all speak a Latin language, medicine is Italian and public health is French. They are rooted in the same, have similar sounds, but they sound different when you talk to people. Having an MPH is like having access to a Rosetta stone and you are able to speak the different languages. Also, having an MPH gives you street cred. When you have the MPH it gives you a bit more street cred amongst the public health workers. Lastly, the leadership experience of the fellowship is very valuable. Learning things like how to have conversations with the media and stick to talking points, running a meeting, writing a memo. They are small things, but they make it a lot easier to effectively lead. Those are the hard and soft skills learned from the fellowship. 

What do you feel are qualities or experiences that are looked for in potential applicants for this fellowship, particularly of an EM background?

The applicants don’t necessarily need to come in with leadership experience, but they need to come in with the express purpose of becoming a leader and a desire to change health policy in the direction of equity and justice.  Your application needs to reflect that, your personal statement, your letters of recommendation, and the work that you have done in this space. This is not a program that you come just to get an MPH. There is an expectation that by graduating from this program you will be someone who is on the front lines, whether in a hospital, non-profit, or governmental agency, that is focused on promoting equity and justice in health. That has to be the base of your application and the tenor that we get when we read each aspect of the application.

Any changes to the application process with COVID?

Yes, we expect the process to be fully virtual. There are pros and cons to that. There is something to be said about coming to the campus and seeing Boston and Harvard and people in their natural environment where they potentially might be working. The pro is that we may be able to expand our interview process a little bit more and hopefully interview a few more applicants then we have in the past. That is not a guarantee, we do our interviews in January and February and will continue to reassess our process until then. Virtual interviews are something we have done in the past, and do not feel this was a hindrance to us or the applicant, it is something we feel prepared for.

What makes Boston/Harvard a good location for this fellowship?

You have access to so many great people that are here as potential mentors to help you grow professionally, especially for junior persons coming in for the fellowship.  We also get a lot of applicants who are mid-career and use the fellowship as an inflection point to change trajectories to their careers, but if you are someone who is coming in junior, being here in Boston with all of our teaching hospitals, there are lots of connections that can be made. You have an abundance of resources here that you may not get in other places. There are many fellows who come here, and then get a job to stay here at a teaching hospital. These are unique opportunities because we have so many hospitals that you can work at and possible mentors here. 

Any additional information or advice for potential applicants?

The biggest thing is to do your research for any fellowship that you are interested in. You want to look and see what the fellows and alumni are doing and what they have been able to accomplish. Talk to people early on. You do not want to shot gun approach a fellowship, there are some things that you should be looking for based on the career interests that you may have and being strategic in your approach to applying. This fellowship is very unique in that it is a relatively very well established, it has been around for over 25 years, and there is a great track record of accomplishments of alumni. Getting information from alumni is always important, if you reach out to us, we can get you in touch with people who have done the fellowship and you can figure out if this is a right fit for you. And also, get your application in on time. If you are late in applying, it does not bode well for you.