Dartmouth Institute MPH Student Spotlight: Juan Jose Delgado-Hurtado, MD

Rotating through public and private hospitals as a medical student in Guatemala City, Juan Jose Delgado-Hurtado would often come home after a night shift questioning how well the system—rife with inefficiencies and redundancies—worked. Curious and critical, he imagined the ways he would improve it. He came to the United States to do his internal medicine residency at an integrated health system where he learned more about quality improvement and population health. In both countries, Delgado-Hurtado frequently saw patients with preventable diseases, which made him wonder what the community, government or patient could have done differently. 

He realized that although he enjoyed caring for patients individually, he wanted to have an impact at the population level. To have the impact, he knew he needed to hone his research skills and knowledge of public health and health policy. After completing his first year of an endocrinology  fellowship, he transitioned to Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Leadership Preventive Medicine Residency (LPMR) program, which enables residents or fellows to obtain an MPH degree from The Dartmouth Institute. Ultimately, Delgado-Hurtado hopes to divide his time between clinical medicine and research. In the long term, he envisions possibly returning to Guatemala, as there’s a need there for physicians trained in epidemiology and biostatistics, as well as healthcare researchers focused on health outcomes.

Areas of Interest:

• More effective, patient-centered, and innovative ways of caring for patients with diabetes

Dartmouth Institute Deliverables:

• Formal training and tools needed to analyze healthcare systems, implement innovation, and improve environment for patients and providers

POSTED 9/4/2018 AT 11:37 AM IN #mph on-campus