Michael VanRooyen

Michael Johannes VanRooyen (born November 19, 1961) is an American humanitarian and physician, best known for his expertise in emergency medicine and aid delivery in humanitarian crises. VanRooyen is the co-founder and current Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative at Harvard University, a university-wide research center that aims to provide practice-based solutions to "relieve human suffering in war and disaster" through interdisciplinary research, education, and policy-development. A leader in the humanitarian field, Boston Magazine posited that “the Harvard professor’s exploits have inspired legions of followers to dedicate themselves to helping right the political, military, and environmental wrongs of the world.”
VanRooyen is currently the Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a Professor at both Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health []. In April 2016, he published, The World's Emergency Room: The Growing Threat to Doctors, Nurses, and Humanitarian Workers, a memoir that traces the growing number of attacks on aid workers through VanRooyen’s personal experiences in the field.

VanRooyen was born and raised in St. Johns, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1984. He attended Wayne State University School of Medicine where he received the Outstanding Service Award and William K. Quick Centennial Scholar Award before completing his MD in 1988. In 1996 VanRooyen graduated with a Master of Public Health degree from University of Illinois School of Public Health where he received the Paul Q. Peterson Scholarship Public Health Excellence Award.

He and his wife, Julia VanRooyen, MD, reside in Wayland, Massachusetts with their three children.

Dr. VanRooyen has worked in more than thirty countries affected by war and disaster including Somalia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bosnia, Iraq, and North Korea with numerous non-governmental organizations, including: Save the Children, Physicians for Human Rights, Save the Children, and Oxfam. He has also served as a policy advisor to the World Health Organization and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Dr. VanRooyen frequently testifies before the U.S. Congress and the United Nations on issues related to Darfur, Iraq, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, serving as a policy adviser for governmental and non-governmental organizations alike.

Domestically Dr. VanRooyen worked with the American Red Cross to provide humanitarian assistance in the wake of the September 11th attacks and as a coordinator of their field hospital response to Hurricane Katrina. He has also worked as a physician in Arizona and New Mexico for the Navajo and Apache tribes.