Valerie L. Ward, MD, MPH

Valerie L. Ward, MD, MPH, is a Senior Vice President and the Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, the Director of the Sandra L. Fenwick Institute for Pediatric Health Equity and Inclusion, and the Director of the Office of Health Equity and Inclusion at Boston Children’s. She is also an Assistant Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ward is a practicing pediatric radiologist in the Department of Radiology at Boston Children’s, and she held a previous position of Physician Director for Quality Improvement in the Department of Radiology at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Ward leads the essential work to make Boston Children’s a leader for health equity and inclusion, for all patients, faculty, staff and trainees. Dr. Ward also provides leadership, vision and strategic oversight for the newly created Boston Children’s Sandra L. Fenwick Institute for Pediatric Health Equity and Inclusion. The Fenwick Institute is focused on evidence-based knowledge creation from innovative pediatric health equity research that addresses relevant and important health inequities for children. The Fenwick Institute has also created novel leadership and biomedical research initiatives to ensure more equitable health outcomes for all children.
Dr. Ward publishes on pediatric health equity and lends her expertise through numerous mentoring relationships and national research and clinical collaborations. As a national thought leader, she represents Boston Children’s on the Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) Health Equity Leadership Workgroup and the SPS Safety Disparities Steering Committee, the Inaugural Children’s Hospital Association Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group, is a member of the Pediatric Health Equity Collaborative, and is a Health Equity Advisor and a Co-Leader of the Health Equity Core for the Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Research Network.
Dr. Ward received her A.B. in chemistry from Harvard University, her medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine, and a master of public health degree also from Harvard. She completed her internship in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, her residency in diagnostic radiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a fellowship in pediatric radiology at Boston Children’s Hospital, and a research fellowship in the Harvard-wide Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship Program.