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Dr. Megan Ranney
Dean of the Yale School of Public Health, Emergency Physician, Researcher & Advocate for Innovative Approaches to Health
Dr. Megan Ranney
Dean of the Yale School of Public Health, Emergency Physician, Researcher & Advocate for Innovative Approaches to Health
Biography
If you turn on almost any major news network, you are likely to see a familiar face. Whether discussing gun violence, pandemics or other public health issues facing our nation, Dr. Megan Ranney is a frequent media commentator on outlets ranging from the BBC to CNN, as well as The Wall Street Journal. She is one of the most recognizable health voices today.
This practicing emergency physician, researcher and Dean of the Yale School of Public Health is known for her ability to synthesize data and human stories on health issues that matter to all of us. An engaging and thought-provoking speaker, Dr. Ranney has delivered keynotes for organizations ranging from major healthcare systems and associations to private corporations, national public health organizations, youth development groups and venture capital groups. She was recently the opening speaker for Aspen Health Ideas. She was formerly the Deputy Dean at the School of Public Health at Brown University.
Dr. Ranney has informally advised the White House and Surgeons General across multiple administrations, provided testimony for four Congressional committees and has advised multiple governmental and non-governmental organizations within and outside of the United States on topics ranging from digital health equity to COVID-19 to combating misinformation.
Dr. Ranney has held multiple national leadership roles, including Co-founder and Senior Strategic Advisor for AFFIRM at the Aspen Institute, a non-profit committed to ending the gun violence epidemic through a non-partisan public health approach; and Co-founder of GetUsPPE.org, a start-up non-profit that delivered nearly 20 million pieces of donated personal protective equipment to those who needed it most. She is also a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Health Innovators Fellowship Program and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Opioid Abatement Trust. 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.
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 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.
She lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two children.
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
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
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