Michael VanRooyen

Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH, has transformed humanitarian crisis response through his roles as founding Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Chair of Emergency Medicine at Mass General Brigham. After completing his medical training and MPH, he has built an extraordinary career spanning more than three decades of humanitarian work in over thirty conflict and disaster zones. As the J. Stephen Bohan Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Lavine Family Professor of Humanitarian Studies at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, he has led complex humanitarian operations in regions including Somalia, Rwanda, Iraq, and Ukraine. His domestic crisis response includes coordinating medical teams during the Boston Marathon bombing, 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2012, he established the Humanitarian Academy at Harvard to advance professional development for humanitarian leaders globally. His expertise has influenced policy through congressional testimony, UN briefings, and service on the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Health Cluster. Author of "The World's Emergency Room" and "Emergent Field Medicine," he continues to shape humanitarian assistance while leading ten emergency departments serving over 500,000 patients annually through the Mass General Brigham health system.