WALTHAM – Dr. James J. O’Connell, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a longtime physician caring for Boston’s rough sleepers, has been honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) with its 2024 Henry Ingersoll Bowditch Award for Excellence in Public Health.
The Ingersoll Bowditch award is bestowed annually to a Massachusetts physician who demonstrates creativity, commendable citizenship, initiative, innovation and leadership in the public health and advocacy fields.
O’Connell is credited with being the founding physician of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), which now serves over 10,000 homeless individuals and families each year in two hospital-based clinics (Boston Medical Center and MGH), in 25 shelters and outreach sites, and on the streets of Boston. O’Connell has spent nearly four decades caring for Boston’s rough sleepers, a unique sub-group of Boston’s homeless population who sleep under bridges, on park benches, and in alleyways.
“There are three key innovations that Jim has spearheaded, each of which have had a profound impact on the health of people experiencing homelessness in the United States,” said Dr. Jessie Gaeta, a physician with Healthcare for the Homeless Program. “The first is the insistence on incorporating ‘consumers’ or patients, people with living experience of homelessness, into the governance structure of HCH programs across the country - including on our Boards of Directors and as Consumer Advisory Boards, both of which have been in place since the late 1980s, before this was adopted in the broader community health center movement.
“The second is the creation of a niche level of care for this population called medical respite - a place to be cared for when a person is too sick to stay in shelter or on the street, but not sick enough to need hospital-level care. I’m convinced this particular innovation of Jim’s, starting with the nation’s first medical respite facility, the Barbara McInnis House in Boston, and now consisting of over 100 programs across the country, has saved countless lives. And the third game-changing contribution to this field is Jim’s insistence from the beginning that we collect data and conduct ethical, meaningful research to answer the questions our patients insist are answered,” Gaeta added.
O’Connell is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and is a past winner of the Medical Society’s Excellence in Medical Service award.
The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the statewide professional association for physicians and medical students, supporting 25,000 members. We are dedicated to educating and advocating for the physicians of Massachusetts and patients locally and nationally. A leadership voice in health care, the MMS contributes physician and patient perspectives to influence health-related legislation at the state and federal levels, works in support of public health, provides expert advice on physician practice management, and addresses issues of physician well-being. Under the auspices of the NEJM Group, the MMS extends our mission globally by advancing medical knowledge from research to patient care through the New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM Catalyst, and the NEJM Journal Watch family of specialty publications, and through our education products for health care professionals: NEJM Knowledge+, NEJM Resident 360, and our accredited and comprehensive continuing medical education programs.
