Dr. Megan Ranney

Dean of Yale School of Public Health and C.-E. A. Winslow Professor of Public Health (Health Policy) & Professor of Emergency Medicine

Dr. Megan Ranney

Dean of Yale School of Public Health and C.-E. A. Winslow Professor of Public Health (Health Policy) & Professor of Emergency Medicine

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Biography

Dr. Megan L. Ranney is an emergency physician, researcher, and national advocate for innovative approaches to public health. She joined Yale in July 2023 as the Dean of the Yale School of Public Health and C.-E. A. Winslow Professor of Public Health.

Dr. Ranney’s research focuses on developing, testing, and disseminating interventions to prevent violence and related behavioral health problems, as well as on COVID-related risk reduction.

She has held multiple national leadership roles, including Co-Founder and Senior Strategic Advisor for the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM) at the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit committed to ending the gun violence epidemic through a non-partisan public health approach, and Co-Founder of GetUsPPE, a start-up nonprofit that delivered donated personal protective equipment to those who needed it most. She is a Fellow of the fifth class of the Aspen Institute’s Health Innovators Fellowship Program and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Opioid Abatement Trust. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.

She has received numerous awards for technology innovation, public health, and research, including Rhode Island “Woman of the Year” and the American College of Emergency Physicians’ Policy Pioneer Award. A leading public voice on urgent topics in health and medicine, she offers expert analysis through testimony to Congress and guidance for non-governmental organizations. She is a frequent media commentator and author of op-eds for outlets that include the BBC, CNN, The Atlantic, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

Prior to arriving at Yale, Dr. Ranney served as Deputy Dean at the Brown University School of Public Health; the Warren Alpert Endowed Professor of Emergency Medicine at Alpert Medical School of Brown University; and the Founding Director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health. She remains an adjunct faculty member at Brown University.

Dr. Ranney earned her bachelor's degree in history of science, graduating summa cum laude, from Harvard University; her medical doctorate, graduating Alpha Omega Alpha, from Columbia University; and her master’s degree in public health from Brown University. She completed her residency in Emergency Medicine and a fellowship in Injury Prevention Research at Brown University. She was previously a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cote d'Ivoire.

Speaker Videos

TEDx: How the Public Health Approach Can Solve Gun Violence

COVID-19 Related Illness Impacting Children | MSNBC

The Speed of COVID-19 Vaccine Development

COVID Lockdown | CBS News

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Speech Topics

Combating Misinformation Through Social Media: Why Our Voices Make a Difference

Many in healthcare are conflicted about the value of social media. It's a way to stay connected with patients but can also be challenging, between HIPAA compliance and fears of negative responses. Dr. Megan Ranney will outline the ways that we all can use social media positively— to raise public awareness, educate and improve health. She will provide an overview of successful tips for engagement, as well as examples of combatting misinformation, using social media to engage at-risk populations and reducing health disparities.

A New Way to Approach the Gun Crisis

It's been nearly 15 years since Dr. Megan Ranney experienced her first firearm suicide in the ER where she worked. The loss of the young man changed her approach to the issue. Today, she is a leading expert on a public health approach to gun violence, through partnerships between physicians, public health practitioners, firearm experts and community groups. In this important presentation, Dr. Ranney shares what she has learned about what gun violence really is—and the barriers to bringing down the numbers. Whether it’s racism, the stigma or lack of access to mental health care, the easy access to an unsecured firearm or economic hopelessness, Dr. Ranney discusses the important role we all play in ending the gun violence epidemic through a non-partisan public health approach.

COVID-19: What Comes Next?

The coronavirus has been disorienting at best and devastating at worst. It has also exposed everything broken in our healthcare system. In this important talk, Dr. Megan Ranney combines her firsthand experiences as an ER doctor on the frontlines, with big-picture assessments of where we go next, drawn from her national public health leadership during the pandemic. She describes how and why we must rebuild our health system—re-upping our commitment to public health, digital technologies and equity. She shares the long-term effects of the pandemic, how to deal with the mental health issues caused by the last two-plus years, and why community collaboration and engagement are so critical to our future.

Dr. Ranney tailors this talk according to the audience (emphasizing what happens next with the virus; discussing non-profit and public/private partnerships as key elements in virus response; providing lessons on what has worked versus what hasn’t in digital technology). This talk has been given to audiences ranging from Wall Street firms to healthcare organizations to high school parents.

Using Digital Health to Improve Health & Reduce Disparities

COVID-19 turbocharged digital health. Investment in digital technology (telehealth, wearables, apps, social media and other innovations) skyrocketed to meet the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. Although many people assume that digital health technology will worsen existing structural inequities, it isn't necessarily so! In this engaging presentation, Dr. Megan Ranney, Founding Director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health and Professor of Emergency Medicine, shares examples and strategies for using digital health to engage at-risk populations and reduce health disparities. Dr. Ranney has given this talk to healthcare systems, medical conferences, patient advocacy groups and investors.

The Power of One

Over the last decade, Dr. Megan Ranney has emerged as one of the nation's strongest voices for innovative solutions to seemingly intractable public health crises. In this talk, she takes the audience on a journey from possibility to action. She outlines how to see beyond the limits of the possible; provides concrete examples of success and failure in work on gun violence, opioids, COVID and digital health; and shares her core lessons about the key ingredients for action (inclusivity, persistence, shared power, high-quality data). She proves that it is possible to create hope in our communities even when dealing with the toughest issues when we all work together as one. This talk has been given to audiences ranging from healthcare to higher education to associations.

Testimonials

"EXCELLENT presentation, which incorporated data, statistics, practical advice and personal experience. It was engaging and knowledgeable with useful information as we work on trauma informed care for our patients and workplace violence prevention. Thought provoking and valuable presentation. Thank you!"

- Med-IQ Attendees

"Everything went well this morning! Leadership was extremely pleased with the session and Megan’s presentation. We had over 250 team members join live, which is more than we expected. Thank you so much to you and your team for coordinating!"

- Northwell

"Dr. Ranney recently participated in an event for our firm, and she is an absolute pleasure to work with. She is knowledgeable, articulate, concise, passionate, and a true expert in her field. On our pre-event call, she sought to understand our event goals and demographics so that she could tailor her comments accordingly. On the day of the event, she was on time, responded to text check-ins, presented extremely well, looked at the camera at all times, smiled frequently, and acknowledged the other panelists for the duration of the event. Following the event, she was also extremely responsive and sent us some follow-up resources she mentioned during the event. I would recommend working with Dr. Ranney and look forward to the opportunity to work with her again."

- Bessemer Trust

“As always great job on the speaker suggestion. Megan was fantastic and a perfect fit for our event!”

- Avasure

"Thank you for joining us last week for the event on vaccine misinformation. I’ve been at the Pell Center for 10 years, and I don’t think we’ve ever done a more important event, and I’m not alone. The event was enthusiastically received by the audience, many of whom joined simply to hear you. Your mastery of the subject, your empathy, and your ability to communicate settled many nerves by providing meaningful information that was both comprehensive and understandable. That’s no small feat, and we are in your debt."

- Pell Center, Salve Regina University

"Megan was excellent! Her topic was so relevant to our current state of affairs when it came to misinformation in social media. Of course, working with Megan to discuss her topic was seamless. She ended up touching upon everything I felt would be great for our audience to hear. Feedback from our attendees included loving her topic, enjoying the material, and wanting to hear more! Absolutely no doubt, we would welcome having her back again in the future."

- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)

"Please extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Ranney for her excellent keynote presentation. Her talk proved to be a perfect lead-in for our panel discussion and breakout sessions held later in the day. The audience response was very positive, and many said they were encouraged by Dr. Ranney’s ability to address this difficult topic with real goals and solutions."

- Grandparents Against Gun Violence