Barry is an advocate for women's rights in the medical profession. She wrote the first policy for maternity leave in the Department of Medicine at Yale. Later, she created the Women Leaders in Global Health Conference, first held in Stanford in 2017. The following year, she was the recipient of the Elizabeth Blackwell Medal by the American Medical Women's Association. She is the founder of WomenLift Health, an international nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the involvement of women in global health leadership.[1]
Through the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health, Dr. Barry has allocated funding from donors for global health initiatives and research. She works in Planetary Health and is an advocate for directing attention to this field. Under her direction, the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health focuses on three pillars: Refugees & Vulnerable Populations, Women’s Leadership in Global Health, and Human and Planetary Health.
Biography
Barry graduated in medicine from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1977 and subsequently completed her internship, residency, and chief residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and her rheumatology fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. She completed her tropical medicine training at Walter Reed Hospital and at various overseas settings where she has lived, such as Zimbabwe, Ecuador, South Africa, and others.
Barry created the Women Leaders in Global Health Conference in response to the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in global health.[5] At its first meeting in 2017, she stated that
At least 75% of the global health workforce is female, as are the majority of caregivers and the most vulnerable patients. But with every step up the ladder, the proportion of women shrinks ... It’s a room full of men discussing women’s health.[4]
Her research interests are in the fields of global health, tropical medicine, and emerging infectious diseases.[3] Taking an approach that crosses disciplines, she aims to take into account the local context of global health issues such as infectious disease.[8] In her work she highlights how areas of global unrest are often centres of emerging disease.[9]
Recognizing the growing and grave threats that climate change and other environmental changes pose to human health, Barry has led many initiatives to help the medical and global health communities respond to these challenges. These include:
Funded, mentored, and contributed to a range of research projects exploring the physical and mental health implications of climate change on human health.
Barry has been recognized for her support of the health of refugees and vulnerable populations: In 1981, she received the Humanitarian Award, Migration and Refugee, from Catholic Services.[14] In 1993, she was given the Elm-Ivy Mayor's Award from the New Haven, CT. Mayor's Office for her work on homeless and refugee health.[14]
She has been awarded two teaching awards from Yale University: In 1992, the Leah Lowenstein Award, selected by Yale medical students as a role model for teaching of humane, egalitarian care, and in 2002, the Yale School of Medicine Society Distinguished Teaching Award.[15]
She's also been recognized as a physician, being selected for Best Doctors in America and receiving, in 2010, the Ben Kean Medal, awarded to a clinician or educator for their dedication to clinical tropical medicine.[16]
In 2022, Barry received the Martin S. Wolfe Mentorship award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, recognizing her efforts to foster a new generation of global health leaders.
Barry is married to physician and former Dean of Research at Stanford School of Medicine, Mark Cullen, and they have two daughters, Zoe B. Cullen, and Esme B. Cullen, and five grandchildren. Zoe B. Cullen is a labor economist at Harvard Business School and Esme B. Cullen is an internist and medical director of a federally qualified clinic in Marin County, California .[18][5]
Selected publications
Barry M, Bia F. (1988) "Ethical considerations of human investigation in developing countries: The AIDS dilemma." NEJM.319 (16):1083-1086 doi:10.1056/NEJM198810203191609
Barry M. (1991) "The influence of the U.S. tobacco industry on the health, economy, and environment of developing countries" The New England Journal of Medicine. 324 917-920 doi:10.1056/NEJM199103283241311[19]
Barry M, Molyneux M. (1992) "Ethical dilemmas in malaria drug and vaccine trials: a bioethical perspective." Journal of Medical Ethics.18 (4): 189–192 doi:10.1136/jme.18.4.189[20]
Barry M, Armstrong L, Russi M, Dembry L, Geller D, Tesh R, Gonzalez JP, Khan A, Peters CJ. (1995) "Treatment of a Laboratory Acquired Infection of Sabiá Virus." New England Journal of Medicine. 333 (5): 294–296 doi:10.1056/NEJM199508033330505[21]
Barry, Michèle (2000-01-18). "Effect of the U.S. Embargo and Economic Decline on Health in Cuba". Annals of Internal Medicine. 132 (2): 151. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-132-2-200001180-00010[22]
Lo, Nathan C.; Barry, Michele (2017-04-13). "The Perils of Trumping Science in Global Health — The Mexico City Policy and Beyond". New England Journal of Medicine. 376 (15): 1399–1401. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1701294
Jowell, Ashley; Zhou, Bright; Barry, Michele (2017-08-01). "The impact of megacities on health: preparing for a resilient future". The Lancet Planetary Health. 1 (5): e176–e178. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30080-3[23]
Gabster, Brooke Peterson; van Daalen, Kim; Dhatt, Roopa; Barry, Michele (2020-06). "Challenges for the female academic during the COVID-19 pandemic". The Lancet. 395 (10242): 1968–1970. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31412-4
Krohn, Kristina M.; Yu, Gina; Lieber, Mark; Barry, Michele (2022-07). "The Stanford Global Health Media Fellowship: Training the Next Generation of Physician Communicators to Fight Health Misinformation". Academic Medicine. 97 (7): 1004–1008. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000004630[25]
Modlin, C.E., DeCamp, M., Barry, M., Rockney, D. and Sugarman, J., (2022) An Online Ethics Curriculum for Short-Term Global Health Experiences: Evaluating a Decade of Use. Annals of Global Health, 88(1), p. 74. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.3716[26]