FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, May 13, 2024
Contact: Gina DiGravio, 617-358-7838, ginad@bu.edu
BMC Chief Scientific Officer and BU Professor to Participate in Executive Leadership in Health Care Program
(Boston)—Megan Bair-Merritt, MD, MSCE, Chief Scientific Officer of Boston Medical Center and professor of pediatrics at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has been accepted into the Executive Leadership in Health Care (ELH) program. The yearlong, part-time fellowship intended for women in mid-career to senior-level leadership positions, promotes the concepts, tools and skills that will enable women leaders to bring their full potential to health care organizations. ELH is recognized by CEOs and deans for developing true leaders who bring high value back to their institutions.
Bair-Merritt is the inaugural Chief Scientific Officer at Boston Medical Center, and serves as the multiple principal investigator of the BU Clinical & Translational Science Institute. She is the former Chair of Gender Equity for BU Medical Group’s Office of Equity, Vitality and Inclusion. She is a leader in the field of intimate partner violence and a well-regarded research mentor.
Bair-Merritt has led and/or served on more than 15 extramural awards from agencies such as the Health Research and Services Administration, the National Institute of Justice, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and the National Institutes of Health as well as multiple large foundation grants..
She is the author of over 110 peer-reviewed publications. Her 2010 first-author publication, “Reducing Maternal Intimate Partner Violence After the Birth of a Child: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Hawaii Healthy Start Home Visitation Program,” represents one of the most substantial contributions to the field of intimate partner violence, and is one of only 30 studies to be considered as positive evidence by the United States Preventive Services Task Force in its 2018 recommendation for screening for intimate partner violence. She was an invited member of former Governor Charlie Baker’s Taskforce for Sexual Misconduct surveys from 2021-22.
Bair-Merritt received her MD degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed her residency at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.