Steffie Woolhandler
Woolhandler in 2018
Born1950 or 1951 (age 72–73)
Alma materStanford University
Louisiana State University
University of California, Berkeley
OccupationPhysician
EmployerCUNY School of Public Health
OrganizationPhysicians for a National Health Program
TitleDistinguished Professor of Public Health and Health Policy
PartnerDavid Himmelstein

Stephanie Joan "Steffie" Woolhandler (born 1950 or 1951 in Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American primary care physician and medical researcher. An advocate for single-payer health insurance in the United States, she is a co-founder and board member of Physicians for a National Health Program. She is Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Health Policy at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College and an adjunct clinical professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is also a lecturer in medicine at Harvard Medical School, where she formerly co-directed the general internal medicine internship program.

Early life and education

Steffi Woolhandler (born 1950 or 1951) grew up in Louisiana; her father was a radiologist in Shreveport,[1] her mother a homemaker who died when Steffi was 8 years old.[2] Woolhandler received her bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 1975, at the conclusion of the Vietnam War. Her involvement in the movement against the war at that time influenced her decision to pursue medicine, reflecting that “I sought a career that allowed me to continue my work for social change.” [3] She received her medical degree from Louisiana State University. The “conservatism of [her peer] medical professionals” frustrated her [2] and solidified a desire within her to be an advocate for social change within her profession. She returned to California to do her internship at San Francisco General Hospital and obtained her master's degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley.[4][5]

Career

Since she was young, Woolhandler imagined that she would help the underserved that she grew up around, and that her medical career would involve “providing hands-on care” to those in need.[3] She trained and practiced in public hospitals in California and Massachusetts before joining the faculty at Harvard in 1987. From 1990 to 1991, she worked at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a health policy fellow at the Institute of Medicine and the U.S. Congress.[4]

Woolhandler is also a prominent academic, and credits Robert S. Lawrence, then chief of medicine at The Cambridge Hospital for helping her bridge her social activism with her formidable academic pursuits.[3] Initially believing that her hand in social change would be in direct, hands-on service to the community, Woolhandler shifted her focus to academic scholarship as an avenue for social change. In 1987, Woolhandler co-Founded Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), to provide a voice for physicians seeking to combat their more conservative peers. The organization focused their early efforts on publishing in reputable journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, and JAMA, but have since shifted toward activism work, growing to include nurses and other health professionals and boasting a chapter in nearly every state in the continental US.[6] Some activities include direct lobbying of policy makers, attempting to persuade other physicians to support a government-run health care plan, as well as organized sit-ins and demonstrations at various private run insurance company locations. For example, in 2009, over 150 activists were arrested for sitting in the lobbies of offices such as Aetna, Cigna, and Humana, many of them physicians and nurses aligned with PNHP. The organization has continued to gain prominence, and in 2016 advised the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders.[7]

Research

Woolhandler has published more than 50 papers on the subjects of health policy, administrative overhead, the uninsured,[8] health care access and financing.[4][9]

Her critique of the current US system has expanded by comparing it the Canadian system, highlighting in a 2003 interview with the New York Times that Canada is also able to deliver high tech medicine and high tech care, yet “spend half of what [the US does].”[2] She also works to clear misconceptions that are perpetuated by those opposed to a single-payer system. She has countered claims of Canada's system being slow regarding wait times for procedures by emphasizing that they are underfunded compared to the US system, “not because it is structurally wrong”.[2]

She is co-chair of the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era, in February 2021 issuing a report that compared US deaths from Coronavirus disease 2019 to mortality rates in the other G7 countries. The report found 40% of US deaths were avoidable and attributable to mismanagement by the Trump Administration.[10]

Honors and awards

In 1994, Woolhandler received the Edward K. Barsky Award from the Physicians Forum, and in 1996 the Ethical Culture Society named her "Humanist of the Year."[5] In 2009, she received that year's A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award from Harvard.[9]

Personal life

Woolhandler's partner, since 1979, is PNHP co-founder David U. Himmelstein. They have two daughters.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Matthiessen, Constance (November 27, 1990). "Should the US Copy Canada?". The Washington Post.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Foreman, Judy (2003-12-02). "A CONVERSATION WITH: Steffie Woolhandler; Heal Health Care System? Start Anew". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  3. 1 2 3 "Changing the Face of Medicine". cfmedicine. June 3, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "Speakers Bureau". Physicians for a National Health Program. Archived from the original on 10 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Steffie Woolhandler". Changing the Face of Medicine. National Library of Medicine. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "Chapters". Physicians for a National Health Program. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP)". www.influencewatch.org. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  8. ↑ Gunaratna, Shanika (June 26, 2017). "Health insurance can make a life or death difference, study says". CBS News. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  9. 1 2 "Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPH, receives excellence in mentoring award from Harvard Medical School". Harvard Gazette. 16 July 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  10. ↑ Alltucker, Ken. "Roughly 40% of the USA's coronavirus deaths could have been prevented, new study says". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 2021-02-27. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
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