Henri Ronald Ford is a
Haitian-American pediatric surgeon
Pediatric surgery is a subspecialty of surgery involving the surgery of fetuses, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.
History
Pediatric surgery arose in the middle of the 1879 century as the surgical care of birth defects required ...
. He previously served as chief of surgery at
Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital in the East Hollywood district of Los Angeles, on Sunset Boulevard at the corner of Vermont Avenue. The hospital has been academically affi ...
and
Vice Dean for
Medical Education
Medical education is education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, including the initial training to become a physician (i.e., medical school and internship) and additional training thereafter (e.g., residency, fellowship, ...
at the
Keck School of Medicine of the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
. He is currently appointed Dean of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, effective 1 June 2018. Following the
2010 Haiti earthquake
A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's c ...
, Ford returned to Haiti to provide medical assistance to earthquake victims.
Background
Ford was born in
Haiti and spent his early years in
Port-au-Prince.
His father was a preacher who spoke out against inequality in Haitian society. When Henri was 13 years old,
he fled with his family from the government of
Papa Doc Duvalier
Papa is a word used in many languages as an affectionate term for father.
Papa or PAPA may refer to:
Geography and geology
* Pápa, a town in Hungary
* Papa village (Samoa), on the island of Savai'i
*Papa, Scotland, various islands
*Papa rock ...
,
settling among the Haitian community in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York.
[ Ford graduated from John Jay High School despite speaking no English when he first arrived.]
Ford graduated with an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...
at Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 1980 after completing a 144-page long senior thesis titled "In search of Refuge: Profile of the Haitian Community in Princeton." He received an M.D.
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...
from Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
in 1984. He completed his surgical internship and residency
Residency may refer to:
* Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place
** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship
* Residency (medicine), a stage of postgra ...
at Weill Cornell Medical College
The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York.
Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with N ...
. He also completed a research fellowship in immunology
Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see the ...
at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is a medical school of the University of Pittsburgh, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The School of Medicine, also known as Pitt Med, is consistently ranked as a "Top Medical School" by '' ...
's Department of Surgery.
In 2009, Ford received a Master of Health Administration
The Master of Health Administration, Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA), or Master of Health Management (MHM), is a master's-level professional degree granted to students who complete a course of study in the knowledge and competencies neede ...
degree from the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
. Since July 2010 he has been a Trustee of Princeton University.
Career
From 1993 to 2005, Ford was an attending surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) and on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is a medical school of the University of Pittsburgh, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The School of Medicine, also known as Pitt Med, is consistently ranked as a "Top Medical School" by '' ...
. He was surgeon-in-chief at CHP and chief of the division of pediatric surgery at the medical school. In 2005 he became vice president and chief of surgery at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and joined the faculty of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Ford later said he moved to East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...
to serve a population in greater need than the Pittsburgh population and that he turned down a large salary increase Pitt offered to retain him. He was appointed Vice Dean for Medical Education at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in 2008. He is currently president of the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA), and he was awarded one of the rarest and most prestigious international milestones for a surgeon—an Honorary Fellowship to the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng), the organization's highest award. He has been named Dean of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, effective 1 June 2018.
Ford has done groundbreaking research on the pathogenesis
Pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes from Greek πάθος ''pat ...
of necrotizing enterocolitis
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating intestinal disease that affects premature or very low birth weight infants.Gephart S.M., Quinn M. A call to action to fight for equity and end necrotizing enterocolitis disparities. ''Adv. Neonata ...
. According to CHLA, he has written over 300 research publications. He served as President of the Association for Academic Surgery from 2002 to 2003 and is the immediate past President of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, having served in that post 2010–11. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Surgeons.
Work in Haiti
In 1997 Ford made his first visit to Haiti following his family's escape. He later described being horrified by the abject poverty and the poor conditions at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti
The Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti is a hospital in Deschapelles, Haiti. It was established in 1956 by Larry Mellon, who was inspired by Hôpital Albert Schweitzer and the life and philosophy of Albert Schweitzer.
History
In 1947, Larry Me ...
.[ He returned several times in the 1990s as a visiting doctor.]
After his sister called the conditions in Haiti following the earthquake of 12 January 2010, "apocalyptic", Ford contacted a friend at the U.S. State Department to offer help. By 16 January he was in Haiti with the U.S. government's emergency rescue team. His brothers Billy Ford and Jean Ford, also doctors, soon joined him in Haiti to treat earthquake victims.
At first Ford operated on patients in a closet at the U.S. Embassy, but when one boy's injuries proved too serious to treat there he and the boy flew by helicopter to the USS ''Carl Vinson''. After operating on the boy, Ford remained aboard the ''Carl Vinson'' treating other pediatric patients. In one case, he removed a piece of concrete from a girl's skull with the help of Jerry Berman U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
doctor and Sanjay Gupta
Sanjay Gupta (born October 23, 1969) is an American neurosurgeon, medical reporter, and writer. He serves as associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, associate professor of neurosurgery at t ...
, a neurosurgeon
Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...
and CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
medical correspondent.
After returning to land, Ford helped the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO) set up a field hospital
A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...
at the soccer field on the campus of Université Quisqueya
Quisqueya University (french: Université Quisqueya) founded in 1988, is a private Haitian university located in Port-au-Prince. The coordinator of the university's establishment and its first rector, from 1990 to 1995, was Jacques-Édouard Alex ...
in Port-au-Prince. He treated patients at the field hospital and spread word about it in the streets of Port-au-Prince, recruiting patients and health care workers from the population. Referring to his work for the GHESKIO hospital, Weill Cornell Medical College called Ford "invaluable", saying he "served both as a skilled surgeon and as a bridge between the United States and Haitian medical teams." WebMD
WebMD is an American corporation known primarily as an online publisher of news and information pertaining to human health and well-being. The site includes information pertaining to drugs. It is one of the top healthcare websites.
It was fou ...
named Ford and three others, including Gupta, "Haiti Health Heroes".
Ford spent two weeks in Haiti during his initial visit following the earthquake. He returned eight times within a year of the quake to continue his medical work.
References
External links
Biography
at CHLA
Profile
at CHLA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Henri
American pediatric surgeons
Haitian emigrants to the United States
People from Brooklyn
Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni
Harvard Medical School alumni
Living people
Haitian surgeons
People from Port-au-Prince
University of Southern California faculty
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)