Culture and Community
at Harvard Medical School
Dean for Culture and Community Engagement
Thank you for your generous support of our culture-and community-building efforts at Harvard Medical School. You help sustain a pluralistic, inclusive community where students, trainees, faculty, and staff can thrive. This year, your support widened access and opportunity, strengthened collaboration and community life, and connected colleagues with one another and with our surrounding neighborhoods. By giving to our efforts, you advance HMS’s mission to alleviate suffering and improve health and well-being for all through excellence in teaching, learning, discovery, and service. On behalf of the entire HMS community, please accept my deepest gratitude.
Joan Y. Reede, MD, MS, MPH, MBA
Dr. Joan Y. Reede
Opening Doors
The Office of Culture and Community Engagement (OCCE)’s conversation series brings together prominent faculty members and alumni several times a year to share their professional journeys and institutional history. These hybrid events, open to the entire HMS community, foster multigenerational connections, peer learning, and a sense of community. Informal receptions follow each conversation. 2026 speakers included Drs. Eleanor Shore, David Nathan, Joseph B. Martin, Frederick H. Lovejoy, Jr., and Anne B. Young.
Dr. Frederick H. Lovejoy, former HMS Dean Dr. Joseph B. Martin, and Dr. Joan Reede at an “Opening Doors” event in March
Genesis Perez-Melara graduated from HMS in June 2026, but her HMS career started more than a decade earlier. Genesis, whose parents are immigrants, participated in OCCE’s Hinton AP Biology Program and Project Success, programs that nurtured her aspirations to become a physician. Today, she works as a resident physician in family medicine at the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center. In this interview, Genesis reflects on the ways OCCE supported her remarkable journey to, and through, HMS.
Recent Graduate Spotlight:
Genesis Perez-Melara, MD ’26
Programs like OCCE’s Project Success and AP Hinton Scholars made medicine and research feel possible, not abstract or out of reach. They helped me understand that my background did not disqualify me from excellence. In many ways, they gave me permission to imagine myself in spaces that I had previously not known how to access.
Genesis Perez-Melara, MD ’26
In 2026, OCCE celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Policy Leadership at Harvard University. This one-year, full-time program prepares physicians to become leaders who improve health for all, with an emphasis on vulnerable, disadvantaged, and uninsured populations.
Alumni from across the country gathered to celebrate this milestone, which was held in conjunction with OCCE’s annual Leadership and Faculty Development Program Conference and Health Policy Meeting. Many Commonwealth Fund fellows have advanced to leadership positions at Harvard and its affiliated hospitals.
Celebrating 30 Years of the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship
During the 2025-2026 academic year, OCCE hosted a three-part lecture series exploring social determinants of health in underserved Boston communities. This year’s series focused on the interconnected challenges presented in the 2025 Boston Public Health Commission Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), a community-informed report that identifies key priorities affecting Boston residents, including access to healthy food, safe and affordable housing, and healthcare.
Discovery, Service, and Justice: A Lecture Series
Office of Alumni Affairs and Development
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