Teaching

Dr. Neal Baer bridges medicine, storytelling, and social change through his academic work at Harvard and Yale. As Senior Lecturer in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Lecturer in Chronic Disease Epidemiology at Yale, he trains future clinicians, writers, and policymakers to use narrative as a tool for public impact. His courses—including Storytelling Methods to Promote Health and Well-Being and Media and Medicine—show students how to translate data into empathy and action. In 2022, he co-founded Harvard’s Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health, pioneering an interdisciplinary model that links the arts, communication, and global health. Across more than a decade of teaching, Baer has demonstrated how story-driven thinking can influence policy, improve care, and deepen our understanding of what it means to heal.

Senior Lecturer, Harvard Medical School – Department of Global Health and Social Medicine
Lecturer, Yale School of Public Health – Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology
Founding Co-Director, Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health (Harvard, 2022–)
Founding Co-Director, Certificate Program in Media and Medicine (Harvard, 2022–)
Course Creator, Storytelling Methods to Promote Health and Well-Being (Harvard, 2022–)
Course Creator, Soda Politics: How the Soft Drink Industry Influences Social Policy (Yale, 2022–)
Lecturer, Media and Medicine: From Data to Emotion to Action (Harvard, 2020–present)