Paula Johnson

Change Agent, Doctor, Educator/Teacher, Idea generator, Parent, Scientist, Social entrepreneur

Dr. Paula Johnson is an inspirational and visionary scholar and leader in medicine who has devoted her career to improving the health of women in the United States and around the world through research, clinical care, and public policy. Dr. Johnson is a trusted mentor and has worked to train the next generation of women's health leaders. She is a deeply committed and passionate advocate for women's health. Dr. Johnson is the Executive Director of the Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology, Chief of the Division of Women's Health at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As an entrepreneurial leader in medicine, she has built organizations which stand at the leading edge of hospital-based interdisciplinary healthcare delivery, discovery and disease prevention. Dr. Johnson started and grew the Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology. This nationally-recognized center, includes an interdisciplinary health care practice model that solidifies the important connection between healthcare delivered to each patient and the health of entire communities. Dr. Johnson has trained, mentored and developed leaders in women's health in both research and clinical care, building a division with a research budget over the past five years of over $30 million in direct and indirect costs. At the Connors Center, she has led the development of research and training programs ranging from gender biology to understanding the social and environmental contexts of women's health to women's health globally. The Division has grown to 45 members and serves as a unique and valued resource to faculty from across the institution. As a leader at one of Harvard Medical School's preeminent teaching hospitals, Dr. Johnson has developed advanced integrated quality control systems that focus on both enhancing patient safety and improving efficiency and outcomes resulting in decreased operating costs while improving safety and patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. Over the last 15 years, Dr. Johnson has led initiatives to improve the health of the City of Boston, including leading the development of a roadmap to improve access to and the quality of primary care in Boston that included stakeholders from all sectors of healthcare. She is an internationally recognized expert in defining disparities and improving the quality of cardiology care for women and minority populations. Her achievements also include membership on the 2010 Institute of Medicine Committee that led to the landmark coverage of preventive services for women under the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Johnson's vision, research, and ability to lead at the intersection of health care and public health has brought her leadership recognition and key leadership roles in the local and national arena, including Chair of the City of Boston's Public Health Commission, member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health, and serving on several committees at the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Johnson's leadership contributions to the medical, public health and business community have been recognized by numerous organizations, including the National Library of Medicine, the Massachusetts Public Health Association, the Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Boston Business Journal, among others. She is Director of West Pharmaceutical Services, a billion dollar public global company and leader in the development and manufacturing of novel pharmaceutical storage and delivery systems. Dr. Johnson is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard, and Radcliffe Colleges. She received her training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where she served as the Chief Resident in Medicine. She is the first African American Harvard Medical School Professor in the 100 year history of Brigham and Women's Hospital.

global women's health, healthcare innovation, Public Health, Women's Health, Women's Health Policy