Katherine A. Gergen Barnett, MD

Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett is the Vice Chair of Primary Care Innovation and Transformation in the Department of Family Medicine at Boston Medical Center (BMC), an Associate Professor at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, a recent Associate at Harvard’s Center for Primary Care, and a Health Innovators Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a highly competitive fellowship that catalyzes leaders to improve US health care.

Prior to joining BMC in 2009, Dr. Gergen Barnett attended Yale University School of Medicine, worked at the National Institutes of Health, and completed a fellowship studying a model of group prenatal care for women in low-income communities. At BMC, she has served in multiple leadership roles including as a chief resident, Director of Integrative Medicine, Medical Director, Residency Director, and Vice Chair.

Dr. Gergen Barnett has been on the front lines of full scope primary care for over twenty years, where her primary clinical interests are behavioral health, preventive medicine, trauma informed care, women’s health, reproductive care, post incarceration medicine, and group medical care.

Dr. Gergen Barnett’s research career has been focused on innovative models of care to address chronic medical conditions, physician burnout, and engaging community partners in creating feasible solutions to increase health and wellness and to address medical distrust in traditionally marginalized communities. She has served as a PI and co-PI on multiple grants, including a MassHealth grant to create and evaluate addiction training for family medicine residents, a Pfizer grant to study the efficacy of Paxlovid in high risk children, a CTSI grant to evaluate best practices for hospital based youth advisory boards, a PCORI grant to create and evaluate integrative medicine group visits for chronic pain, and an NIH grant to study the efficacy of restorative justice and storytelling on healing medical mistrust.

Finally, Dr. Gergen Barnett is involved in local and state health policy addressing health inequities, national policy addressing primary care delivery, a frequent commentator in local and national media, and an accomplished writer whose op-eds and scholarship highlight solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in American health care. Her work is grounded in advancing equity, rebuilding trust in medicine, and ensuring that primary care remains a cornerstone of a healthier, more just future.

Publications

  • Published 9/20/2023

    Peterkin AF, Baldwin M, Demers L, Gergen Barnett K. Evaluating a Video-Based Addiction Curriculum at a Safety Net Academic Medical Center. Subst Abus. 2023 Jul; 44(3):241-248. PMID: 37728099.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/1/2023

    Roseen EJ, Smith CN, Essien UR, Cozier YC, Joyce C, Morone NE, Phillips RS, Gergen Barnett K, Patterson CG, Wegener ST, Brennan GP, Delitto A, Saper RB, Beneciuk JM, Stevans JM. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Incidence of High-Impact Chronic Pain Among Primary Care Patients with Acute Low Back Pain: A Cohort Study. Pain Med. 2023 Jun 01; 24(6):633-643. PMID: 36534910.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/20/2022

    Augsberger A, Toraif N, Young A, Dimitri NC, Bautista R, Pierre J, Le C, Idahor O, Jusme C, Gergen Barnett KA. COVID-19 shines a light on health inequities in communities of color: A youth-driven photovoice inquiry. J Community Psychol. 2022 Sep; 50(8):3700-3715. PMID: 35441704.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/23/2022

    Gergen Barnett K, Mishuris RG, Williams CT, Bragg A, Semenya AM, Baldwin M, Howard J, Wilson SA, Srinivasan J. Telehealth's Double-Edged Sword: Bridging or Perpetuating Health Inequities? J Gen Intern Med. 2022 Aug; 37(11):2845-2848. PMID: 35352272.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/11/2022

    Sharma S, Gergen Barnett K, Maypole JJ, Grochow Mishuris R. Evaluation of mHealth Apps for Diverse, Low-Income Patient Populations: Framework Development and Application Study. JMIR Form Res. 2022 Feb 11; 6(2):e29922. PMID: 35147502.

    Read at: PubMed