Culture Clash

Joseph Betancourt, HMS associate professor of medicine, shares stories about the challenges of cross-cultural communication in health care, both as a doctor today and as a child from a bilingual, bicultural household who accompanied his grandmother to the doctor’s office. He also describes the progress he has seen in reducing racial and ethnic health care disparities as director of the Disparities Solution Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. And in this episode's abstract, research from HMS and Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows how understanding the personal, political, ecological and economic factors behind the Ebola pandemic is critical for preventing future disease outbreaks.