Fava Lecture on Well-Being with Dr. Carrie Cunningham

Maurizio Fava Lecture Series on Well-Being
Removing the Mask: One Surgeon’s Lived Experience of Health, Stigma, and Support

Co-sponsored by the CFD’s Office for Well-Being, the MGPO Frigoletto Committee on Physician Well-Being, and the Departments of Surgery, Anesthesia, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry

The Maurizio Fava Lecture Series on Well-Being was created to honor Dr. Fava’s vision and advocacy for well-being of the MGH community.

In this session, Dr. Cunningham discussed the current world-wide mental health crisis among health care professionals. Through her owned lived experience, she discussed the current state, barriers to care, and a multifaceted approach to enacting change in mental health awareness, reducing stigma and increasing resources for those who are struggling in our community.

Presenter: Carrie Cunningham, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Section Head of the Massachusetts General Hospital Endocrine Surgery Unit, Associate Director of Mentoring in the Department of Surgery, and an Associate Director of the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment. She is the principal investigator of extramural funding for her clinical research program through the NIH and the American Cancer Society. She is the immediate Past-President of the Association of Academic Surgery, a national organization with over 4,000 members with the mission “to inspire and develop young academic surgeons”. The focus of her presidency and her presidential address (available on YouTube) was mental health and suicide awareness. Through her owned lived experience, she continues to advocate for mental health awareness, reducing stigma and enacting change for increased resources for those who are struggling in our community.