Lou Hart, MD

Lou Hart, MD, is a pediatric hospitalist, which means he cares for hospitalized children.

“It’s a fast-paced environment and I love building relationships with kids and families,” Dr. Hart says. “What’s so great about young people is their strength and courage in times of despair. A child’s emotions can swing from so scared to so happy in the blink of an eye, which speaks to their resiliency.”

When he was 10, Dr. Hart wrote a note to his mother telling her that he planned to become a pediatrician when he grew up.

“My grandmother was a registered nurse in the traumatic brain injury and burn units at our public hospital for over 26 years. I remember her teaching me about things like hemophilia in her textbooks, and it fascinated me and sparked my life long curiosity about medicine,” he says. “And then when my father died during my senior year of college of a preventable illness, it shook me to the core and regrouped my focus to dedicate myself to a career in medicine to end this type of human suffering.”

At the time, Dr. Hart had been studying financial economics and philosophy, two areas that now serve him well in his position as medical director of health equity for Yale New Haven Health System. His mission in this inaugural role is to acknowledge and eliminate institutional bias, structural racial inequity, and unjust social barriers that all drive devastating health disparities for patients and communities.

“It’s a data-informed approach to normalize the idea of health equity being a fundamental pillar of quality and safety systems in healthcare,” he explains. “Inequities are unwanted variations in care processes and outcomes for our patients, and they need to be addressed and eliminated from our system. It’s about collecting patient social identity data and using an equity lens to root out any unjust disparities that exist in our collective measures of access to care, patient experience, quality and safety outcomes, and community engagement.”

When it comes to his one-on-one time with patients and families, Dr. Hart says he lets his natural curiosity, kindness, and empathy lead the way.

“I tell all my patients and families that I will serve them with respect, integrity, and accountability throughout our journey together. I remind them that it is my responsibility to build trust in our relationship and my distinct privilege and pleasure to be able to serve them and advocate on their behalf,” Dr. Hart says. “Ultimately, I treat all my patients how they want to be treated, and not simply how I might want to be treated.”