Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd

Boston Public Health Commission
Executive Director
1010 Massachusetts Avenue, 6th Floor
Boston, MA
USA 02118

Biographical Sketch: Barbara Ferrer, Ph.D., MPH, M.Ed Boston Public Health Commission As the City’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Ferrer manages a $154 million budget and oversees 1,100 employees. In addition to operating public health programs, the Commission provides oversight of Boston Emergency Medical Services, several substance abuse treatment facilities, and the largest homeless services program in New England. A high school principal in the Boston Public Schools from 2004 to 2007, Dr. Ferrer returned to the Commission in 2007 after having previously served as the Deputy Director for six years. During that time she spearheaded a broad-based and comprehensive campaign to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities. Dr. Ferrer has more than 25 years of experience working in healthcare. Prior to joining the Boston Public Health Commission, she spent five years at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health -- first as Director of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention and later as Director of the Division of Maternal and Child Health. In 1988, Dr. Ferrer received a master’s degree in public health from Boston University, and was awarded a Pew Foundation doctoral fellowship to attend Brandeis University. She wrote her doctoral thesis on hospital length-of-stay determinants for AIDS patients and, in 1994, received her doctorate from Brandeis University’s Heller School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare. Dr. Ferrer also holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Papers:
3010.0 A Local Health Department’s Efforts to Prevent Prescription Drug Overdose