Dr. Berggren receives Mastership from ACP

Ruth Berggren, M.D.
Ruth Berggren, M.D.

Ruth E. Berggren, M.D., FACP, director of the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics at the Health Science Center, has been chosen to receive Mastership from the American College of Physicians (ACP). The college, with more than 143,000 members, is a national organization of internal medicine physicians.

Selection for a Mastership is recognition of outstanding achievement in internal medicine. Nominees for Mastership come from the ranks of ACP Fellows. New Masters may use the initials MACP after their name.

The daughter of medical missionaries, Dr. Berggren spent her childhood in Deschapelles, Haiti, at the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, named for the Nobel Prize-winning physician and humanitarian known for his philosophy of reverence for life.

From there, she went on to Oberlin College and then Harvard Medical School. During that time, she was named an Albert Schweitzer Fellow and traveled to the West African nation of Gabon to work at the hospital in Lambaréné established by Dr. Schweitzer himself in 1913.

She chose to specialize in infectious diseases, particularly HIV and AIDS.

Since becoming director of the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics in 2007, Dr. Berggren has greatly expanded its Community Service Learning (CSL) Program. CSL is a teaching and learning strategy that combines meaningful service to community with mentored instruction and reflection. And she has brought an increased focus on global health.

Also, through the center and under the guidance of mentors, students run free clinics and other services for refugees and those suffering from addiction and homelessness.



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