Wilson Wang, MD, MPH, MPA

2003-2004

California Endowment Scholar in Health Policy

Founder and CEO, Walking Doctors; Pediatric Hospitalist, NYU Langone Health; Adjunct Professor, College of Global Public Health, New York University; Attending Physician, NYC Health and Hospitals, New York, NY

Dr. Wang is Senior Technical Advisor for Save the Children in Indonesia, one of a consortium of organizations battling high maternal and neonatal mortality rates as part of a USAID-funded program called EMAS. EMAS works with the health Ministry, medical associations, local government and staff in 150 hospitals and 300 health centers to increase medical quality through health system planning and organization, data use and reporting; clinical decision support; and facility-to-facility mentorship. Dr. Wang’s job is basically to make sure that the EMAS intervention works.

2011-2012, Dr. Wang served as Deputy Director of Health Programs for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) – Liberia. In this capacity, he oversaw the support of 6 Ministry of Health (MOH) Hospitals, 40 MOH clinics and emergency medical operations along the Northern Liberian-Ivory Coast border; strategic development of grant proposals to address Liberia’s sobering health statistics; and monitoring and evaluation of IRC-Liberia’s 9 million dollar health care portfolio.

2008-2010, Dr. Wang was the Director of Asthma Programs at NYC Department of Health’s, Harlem District Public Health Office (DPHO). Dr. Wang worked with insurance companies, hospitals and clinics to increase quality of asthma care through a system based approach to health and disease. He directed the medical aspects of a comprehensive asthma case management program and led projects to increase DPHO visibility and responsiveness to East Harlem residents. He was visiting lecturer at the Mailman School of Public Health.

2006-2007, Dr. Wang worked with Partners in Health in Rwanda, delivering medical care and helping to strengthen care systems at a growing hospital in Kirehe—a community of about 300,000 in the country’s eastern province.

From 2004-2006 he was the Legislative Assistant for Health in the Office of Senator Lieberman in Washington, DC. There his health team passed legislation addressing vaccine safety in children, disaster preparedness of vulnerable populations, avian flu, minority health care disparities and access to mental health care.

Dr. Wang believes that the health of populations is mostly about communities having access to resources and the ability to modulate the kind, tenor and distribution of these resources. These include high quality education, housing, employment, transportation and, health care.

Dr. Wang began a career in health as pediatric resident at Oakland Children’s Hospital, 1999-2002. He continues to practice medicine primarily in the pediatric emergency room and as hospitalist overseeing labor and delivery services and the pediatric ward.  His strong commitment to working on behalf of children began with a teaching career in Oakland Public Schools where he taught junior high school science 1992-1994. His strives to coordinate partnerships between communities, educators, city planners and health care workers that result in the total care of children at home and abroad.

Dr. Wang received a Master's of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1998. He received his medical degree from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine in 1999, and completed his residency in pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Oakland in 2002. He received an MPA at the Kennedy School of Government as part of the California Endowment Scholars in Health Policy at Harvard University Fellowship in 2004.


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Organizing around Children’s Health: Case Study of the Curley Middle School Consortium in Jamaica Plain, MA

Background:

Much of the disparity in minority health is attributable to social determinants of disease, such as unequal access to a good education and well paying jobs. These structural inequalities lead to inequalities in social position, differentials in health behavior and harmful environmental exposures, part or all of which has negative effects on individual health.

Curley Middle School in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts is an example of a public school struggling to meet the needs of students. The school comprised of over 95% students of color is severely underperforming. Of seventh graders taking the state’s standardized test, only 60% of whites, 27% of Blacks and 19% of Hispanics perform at grade level in English. In math the percentages fall to 41%, 8% and 12%, respectively. Who will intervene on behalf of students at Curley? And what will be the consequences if someone does not?

In the spring of 2003, a consortium of over six service organizations came together to figure out a way to deliver essential services to Curley students and their families. This consortium was funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts to enhance the capacity of existing community organizations to provide in and after school programs, including mental health services, to children where they live before they get sick. The Curley Consortium is now one year old. How is it doing? What are participants getting from collaborating? What value are they adding to each other, to their networks, to kids’ networks and to the delivery of services? Is the Consortium a model to be replicated at other school sites?

Methods:

This is a qualitative study, community participatory design. Consortium participants were interviewed. Three Consortium meetings were observed as well as two Consortium sponsored events. Taped interviews were analyzed for overarching themes. Results will be shared with the Curley Consortium.

Findings:

Value added of organizational collaborations at Curley is limited by time and financial constraints. Delivery of comprehensive services to children is unlikely to take place voluntarily.
Organizational collaboration is enhanced by deep interpersonal relationships, which Consortium participants desire.
Consortium participants have very different perceptions of what collaboration can produce and what it is producing.
Parent involvement is critical to the efficacy of collaborations at a school like Curley.
By addressing points (2) and (4) and being transparent about their individual expectations in participating in the group, the Curley Consortium can deliver more and effective services to kids.
Preceptors:

Ronald Ferguson, PhD. Senior Research Associate, Wiener Center for Social Policy
Felton Earls, MD. Professor of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School Gil Noam, PhD. Associate Prof of Education, Harvard School of Education