Overview
Rachel T. Moresky, MD, MPH is Associate Professor in The Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Program on Forced Migration and Health, and Associate Professor at The Columbia University Department of Emergency Medicine, as well as an Honorary appointee at the University of Rwanda, College of Medicine and Health Sciences. During the past twenty years, Dr. Moresky has integrated her expertise in engineering, emergency medicine, and health systems towards improving health outcomes for people living in low-resource health settings, predominantly in low-income countries. Dr. Moresky's team utilizes implementation research to enhance primary care systems' integration with complex adaptive emergency care systems to improve health outcomes. In 2004 Dr. Moresky founded The Columbia University sidHARTe - Strengthening Emergency Systems Program, which collaborates with national and local governments, universities, and NGOs in India, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Honduras, and Cambodia. Using implementation research, cascading capacity building, and data-driven policy development, the partnerships improve both access and health outcomes for underserved communities. Currently, under the direction of the Ghana Health Service, CRS, and the University of Ghana, Dr. Moresky's team is a partner in the USAID-supported Implementation Research Acute Care and Emergency Referral Systems (ACERS) Program to improve EmONC outcomes in rural Ghana. Dr. Moresky is also supporting The Program on Forced Migration and Health, World Bank-funded "Big Questions in Forced Displacement and Health": Building the Evidence on Health System Strengthening in Protracted Displacement. In 2006, Dr. Moresky founded The Columbia University Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship, a program that mentors attending Emergency Physicians in humanitarian action, disaster response, and health systems implementation research in resource-limited health settings. The Fellowship has produced global health leaders who have assumed leadership roles at organizations such as the WHO, WHO Global Health Cluster, IRC, MSF, IMC, CDC, Ethiopian Ministry of Health, and Emergency Medicine programs worldwide. More recently, the fellows have been working on wide-ranging projects such as The sidHARTe-supported University of Rwanda College of Medicine and Health Sciences Emergency Medicine Residency Program, clinical mentors for the International Rescue Committee's Chad and Cox's Bazar COVID-19 response, and working in Ghana on the ACERS consortium implementation research programming.
Academic Appointments
- Associate Professor of Population and Family Health and Medicine at CUMC
Administrative Titles
- Director, Columbia University Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship
- Director, sidHARTe - Strengthening Emergency Systems Program
- Faculty, Global Health Initiative
Gender
- Female
Credentials & Experience
Education & Training
- BS, 1991 Brown University
- MD, 1998 Technion Faculty of Medicine
- MPH, 2003 Harvard School of Public Health
Committees, Societies, Councils
Honors & Awards
Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Global Emergency Medicine, Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award
Research
Research Interests
- Child and Adolescent Health
- Community Health
- Global Health
- Healthcare Policy
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health Education
Selected Publications
Garbern SC, Hyuha G, Marques CG, Baig N, Chan JL, Dutta S, Gulamhussein MA, Teran GP, Manji HK, Mdundo WK, Moresky RT. Authorship representation in global emergency medicine: a bibliometric analysis from 2016 to 2020. BMJ Global Health. 2022 Jun 1;7(6):e009538.
Zard M, Lau S , Bowser D , Fouad F, Lucumi D, Samari, G , Harker, A , Shepard D, Zeng Wu, Moresky, R , Audi , N; Greene C , Kachur P. (2021)"Leave No-one Behind: Ensuring Access to COVID-19 vaccines for Refugee and Displaced Populations (NMED-PI111699)", Nature Medicine
Roy CM, Bollman EB, Carson LM, Northrop AJ, Jackson EF, Moresky RT. Assessing the Indirect Effects of COVID-19 on Healthcare Delivery, Utilization, and Health Outcomes: A Scoping Review. Eur J Public Health. 2021 Mar 23:ckab047. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckab047. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33755130.
Lau LS, Samari G, Moresky RT, Casey SE, Kachur SP, Roberts LF, Zard M. COVID-19 in humanitarian settings and lessons learned from past epidemics. Nat Med. 2020 May;26(5):647-648. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0851-2. PMID: 32269357.
Hall KS, Samari G, Garbers S, Casey SE, Diallo DD, Orcutt M, Moresky RT, Martinez ME, McGovern T. Centring sexual and reproductive health and justice in the global COVID-19 response. Lancet. 2020 Apr 11;395(10231):1175-1177. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30801-1. PMID: 32278371; PMCID: PMC7146687.
Moresky RT, Razzak J, Reynolds T, Wallis LA, Wachira BW, Nyirenda M, Carlo WA, Lin J, Patel S, Bhoi S, Risko N. Advancing research on emergency care systems in low-income and middle-income countries: ensuring high-quality care delivery systems. BMJ global health. 2019 Jul 1;4(Suppl 6):e001265.
Cancedda C, Cotton P, Shema J, Rulisa S, Riviello R, Adams LV, Farmer PE, Kagwiza JN, Kyamanywa P, Mukamana D, Mumena C...Moresky RT...Binagwaho A. Health professional training and capacity strengthening through international academic partnerships: the first five years of the human resources for health program in Rwanda. International journal of health policy and management. 2018 Nov;7(11):1024.
Broccoli MC, Moresky R, Dixon J, Muya I, Taubman C, Wallis LA, Hynes EJ. Defining quality indicators for emergency care delivery: findings of an expert consensus process by emergency care practitioners in Africa. BMJ Global Health. 2018 Feb 1;3(1):e000479.
Wilson PT, Baiden F, Brooks JC, Morris MC, Giessler K, Punguyire D, Apio G, Agyeman-Ampromfi A, Lopez-Pintado S, Sylverken J, Nyarko-Jectey K, Tagbor H, Moresky RT. Continuous positive airway pressure for children with undifferentiated respiratory distress in Ghana: an open-label, cluster, crossover trial. Lancet Glob Health. 2017;5(6)
Moresky RT, Eliades MJ, Bhimani MA, Bunney EB, VanRooyen MJ. Preparing international relief workers for health care in the field: an evaluation of organizational practices. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. 2001 Dec;16(4):257-62.