Dr. Hargarten to lead New Medical College of Wisconsin Global Health Program

The Medical College of Wisconsin named Stephen Hargarten, M.D., as associate dean of its new Global Health Program as part of the College’s new Institute for Community, Population & Public Health. Dr. Hargarten will continue as professor and chairman of emergency medicine and director of the College’s Injury Research Center.

“Our goal is to establish a sustainable platform of global health partnerships to support the education of undergraduate and graduate medical students, research, clinical, public and community health training and international collaborative activities of our faculty and trainees,” says Dean and Executive Vice President Jonathan Ravdin, M.D.

Dr. Hargarten’s international experience began in medical school when he selected a two month elective clerkship in Nicaragua. In 1980, he volunteered at the Tom Dooley Heritage Hospital in Thailand, caring for refugees from Laos. He served on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Indochina Refugee Relief Fund and also on the Board of Tom Dooley Heritage. As an outcome of his MPH at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. Hargarten has extensively investigated US citizen deaths (initially Peace Corps Volunteers) that occur outside the United States and is a leading expert in this area of global health.

Along with colleagues in emergency medicine and in collaboration with the Center for International Health, a collaborative of several institutions, including the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette University, Dr. Hargarten has served as co-principal investigator on large emergency medicine services (EMS) training projects in Poland, Croatia, Latvia, and China. The new Global Health Program will partner with and leverage the efforts of the Center for International Health.

Currently, Dr. Hargarten serves on the Violence and Injury Prevention Mentoring Committee for the World Health Organization and serves on the board of directors of the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT). Dr. Hargarten has a long history of extramurally funded research in injury prevention, and has published over 100 research articles, editorials and chapters.

An alumnus of the Medical College, Dr. Hargarten joined the faculty in 1989. He completed an internship at the Gorgas Hospital in Panama, and previously served as a staff physician in the emergency departments at St. Joseph’s, St. Mary’s and St. Luke’s Hospitals before joining the College and the staff at the County Hospital and Froedtert Hospital. Dr. Hargarten completed his MPH at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Hygiene in 1984.

He is an examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine, and has received numerous awards in recognition for teaching excellence, research in injury prevention, and public service. He is the founding president of the Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research, and a past president of the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine, as well as having served on many expert committees and advisory task forces.