Vanessa Kerry | |
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 Kerry in 2014 | |
| Born | Vanessa Bradford Kerry (1976-12-31)December 31, 1976 (age 48) Boston,Massachusetts, U.S. |
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| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | John Forbes Kerry Julia Stimson Thorne |
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| Website | www |
Vanessa Bradford Kerry (born December 31, 1976) is an American physician, public health expert, and advocate. She is a founder of the non-profitSeed Global Health, director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change atHarvard Medical School, and serves as the Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health for theWorld Health Organization (WHO).
Kerry was born inBoston,Massachusetts, on December 31, 1976. She is the younger daughter of politicianJohn Forbes Kerry and writerJulia Stimson Thorne. Her older sisterAlexandra is an actress, filmmaker, director and producer.[1] After her parents divorced, she moved with her mother toBozeman, Montana. She attendedPhillips Academy inAndover, Massachusetts for high school.[2]
Kerry graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover andsumma cum laude fromYale University with a major inbiology. While a student at Yale, she played for thevarsitylacrosse team for four years. After graduating with herbachelor's degree, she went toHarvard Medical School where she graduated with honors. She took a year off from Harvard to attend theLondon School of Economics and theLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, earning her master's of science in health policy, planning and financing. While in London, she was aFulbright Scholar.[3]
While in medical school, she interned with the Vaccine Fund of theGlobal Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and conducted a study on immunization inGhana.[4] She later studied and advised on government relations for health and development in Rwanda in partnership withPartners in Health.[5]
Kerry completed her internal medicine residency and critical care fellowship at theMassachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She is now a physician specializing in critical care. Kerry has continued work in global health and has collaborated on projects in Haiti and Rwanda through the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. She has worked on public sector partnerships in Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Sierra Leone throughSeed Global Health and supports education and public policy at the MGH Center for Global Health.[6] Kerry also serves as director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change and is an associate professor atHarvard Medical School.[7]
Active in global health for many years, in 2011 Kerry started the non-profitSeed Global Health. Seed's flagship program was the Global Health Service Partnership (GHSP),[8] a partnership with thePeace Corps. The Partnership sent health professionals abroad to work as medical and nursing educators and to help build capacity. With the Peace Corps through GHSP, Seed helped send over 191 physician and nurse educators to train more than 16,000 health professionals in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, Seed launched a new strategy, Sharing Knowledge, Saving Lives.[9] The program is currently active inMalawi,Uganda,Sierra-Leone, andZambia and has trained almost 40,000 health workers in seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in total.[10]
In 2010, Kerry wrote an op-ed on the idea of sending American health professionals to teach forThe New York Times.[11] She has also published in theNew England Journal of Medicine[12] andThe Lancet on the topic.[13] The program also partners with academic medical centers such as theMassachusetts General Hospital and the MGH Center for Global Health. In 2013, Kerry, as CEO was named a Draper Richards Kaplan Social Entrepreneur.[14] In 2014, she was featured inBoston Magazine's Power of Ideas for her work with the organization.[15] In 2015, she earned an Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree fromNortheastern University.[16] In 2016, she was named aWorld Economic Forum Young Global Leader.[17]
Seed's work has promoted the need for a strong workforce and health systems for better health, economic growth, security and wellbeing. In 2021, Seed started promoting the connection between and health and climate change at theConference of the parties 26.[18]
Kerry is the Director of the Program in Global Public Policy at the Mass General Center for Global Health and spearheads the program in Global Public Policy and Social Change at the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine atHarvard Medical School and serves on its faculty.[19]
In June 2023, Kerry was appointed as the first Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization (WHO). At WHO, Kerry's responsibilities include raising awareness of the impact of climate change on health, helping to mobilize resources to advance the work of WHO, and to advance high-level advocacy.[20]
On October 10, 2009 in Boston, Kerry marriedneurosurgeon Brian Vala Nahed, who specializes in brain tumors and spinal disorders.[21] As a surgeon and scientist, Nahed leads a research lab, which aims to develop the first blood test for brain tumors.[22][23] They have a son, Alexander Kerry Nahed, born in 2012 and a daughter born in 2015.[24][25]
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Kerry took a leave from her medical studies in order to campaign for her father's, thenSenatorJohn Kerry, presidential bid in 2004, even introducing him at that year'sDemocratic National Convention. She campaigned by herself and with her sister, mostly focusing on campaign stops at university campuses. She made speeches in support of her father and focused onhealth care issues andtuition costs for students, twoDemocratic campaign issues she felt personally attached to.[26] She also appeared with Alexandra on theMTV Music Video Awards show inMiami where she joinedGeorge W. Bush's daughtersBarbara andJenna, who were campaigning for their father George W. Bush, to encourage youth and citizen voting. Jenna later confirmed that Barbara and Jenna also developed a friendship withJohn Kerry's daughters,Alexandra and Vanessa.[27] Through her work with her father and her public health policy education, she has not ruled out running for political office in the future.[28]
She has also spoken at a number of venues around the globe includingWorld Health Assembly,United Nations,Aspen Ideas Festival, Millennium Campus Network Conferences,TedX Boston,San Diego State University,UCLA,APHA and other venues.
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