Teachers who inspire: Grant Harrell, MD
Lessons of integrity and service from a community health and family medicine physician
Grant Harrell, MD ’10, knows the best lessons in medical education can’t be learned from a book.
The medical director of the UF Mobile Outreach Clinic, assistant professor in the UF College of Medicine’s Department of Community Health and Family Medicine and physician at UF Health Family Medicine – Old Town mentors students, helping them navigate the complexities of a health care system in which many citizens lack access to adequate care. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harrell mobilized a team of students to conduct COVID-19 testing at local homeless shelter GRACE Marketplace as well as other service projects for the community.
Grant Harrell, MD
Photo by Jesse S. Jones
“Getting involved in public health and seeing how these efforts unfold in communities of all types teaches medical students how systems work, which is, in turn, a wonderful way to activate their brains to think about how these systems can work better in the future,” Harrell says. “Once we make it to the other side of this pandemic, how can we improve on these systems that they saw firsthand? These experiences leave indelible impressions on students.”
Recent graduate Cynthia Guerin, MD ’21, says Harrell embodies the tenets he teaches: compassionate patient care and health care access for all.
“He finds creative ways for patients to get adequate care, even if they don’t have the usual resources,” Guerin says. “He has taught me to have compassion for all people. All humans deserve to have access to health care, and Dr. Harrell knows how to work within our current system to make it better.”
Harrell wants his students to understand what makes for a fulfilling and productive career.
“I emphasize that it’s not necessarily money or your schedules or practice location,” he says. “It’s about practicing with integrity, feeling like you’re genuinely helping people and investing in a community in a way that makes you feel like you’re making a meaningful impact on advancing health equity and improving population health.”
