#  Liza I Iezzoni 

Professor of Medicine, HMS

Director, Mongan Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital

 

 

 



   ![Liza Iezzoni is wearing a blue and green pattern jacket. She is holding a digital recorder.](/sites/g/files/omnuum11411/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2026-05/45.Lisa-I-Iezzoni-Questions.jpg?h=45585f3a&itok=MUmKLL_O) 

 



 





 

**In what ways do you feel you contribute to the Harvard community?**  
For spreading messages, Harvard Medical School's "bully pulpit" offers enormous reach and credibility. I recognize, however, the irony of my using this platform to amplify the voices of individuals with disabilities. I matriculated at HMS on September 8, 1980, a gorgeous blue-sky day when everything seemed possible, aspiring to become a doctor and "do good". For the previous four years, I had experienced shadowy, inexplicable, and unnerving physical symptoms that periodically came and went. That first semester, they returned vengefully, and I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The Americans with Disabilities Act wasn't enacted until July 1990, and it was a tough time to be an HMS student with a disability. Briefly put, I never became a practicing doctor. Furthermore, my medical student years taught me a stern lesson: medicine can't cure you, so never, ever talk about your MS, keep it quiet, be silent. I eventually realized that silence perpetuates stigmatization of disability, and I found my own voice of disability advocacy. Now, I strive to give others with disability their voice.

**What is the significance of the object you brought with you to the photo shoot?**  
This photograph shows me holding a digital recorder. I am a health services researcher. For more than 15 years, my research has explored the health and health care experiences of adults with disabilities, focusing primarily on persons with mobility disability. My research often employs large data sets, such as federal surveys and administrative billing records. But my favorite studies involve in-depth interviews with persons with disabilities, using my digital recorder to gather "data" - interviewees' stories. I have interviewed more than 100 persons with mobility disability, many in their homes or workplaces, and their words replay constantly in my mind. Through my research, I aim to give voice to persons who are often isolated, marginalized, and unheard, their views devalued, derided, and dismissed because of disability.



 

 

 



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- ## Person Categories
    
     [Dimensions](/person-categories/dimensions)
- ## Institution
    
     [Massachusetts General Hospital](/institution/massachusetts-general-hospital)