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Lou Hart, MD

he/him/his
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Hospital Medicine)
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Additional Titles

Medical Director of Health Equity, Yale New Haven Health System

About

Titles

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Hospital Medicine)

Medical Director of Health Equity, Yale New Haven Health System

Biography

I don’t just work in healthcare — I’m on a mission to rebuild it from the ground up.

Our system is built on a fatal flaw, where human suffering is monetized, and healing is treated as a luxury good.

Every day, millions of Americans are forced to choose between their health and their financial survival. But the future of American health won’t be achieved by tweaking a broken past. It demands full-system reimagination — one that is bold, just, and relentlessly human-centered.

As a pediatrician with a background in healthcare management, financial economics and public health, I believe the health of a nation is the foundation of its strength. Right now, we’re eroding it — through preventable harm, misaligned incentives, and the normalization of fragmented low-value care.

This isn’t just a policy failure. It’s a moral one.

I’m building toward a future where dignity, data, and human intelligence work in harmony — where AI amplifies fairness, healing is continuous and trustworthy, and economic value is measured by lives changed, not dollars extracted.

This future isn’t impossible. It’s inevitable — if we choose it.

If you’re a clinician seeking purpose, an innovator with bold ideas, or a patient demanding better — let’s restore dignity to American healthcare!

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

MBA
Yale School of Management, Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellow
Emerging Leaders Program
Yale School of Management
Clinical Leadership Fellow
NYC Health + Hospitals, Office of Quality & Safety
Residency
New York University, Pediatrics
MD
University of California, San Diego, Doctor of Medicine
BA
Vanderbilt University, Medicine, Health & Society / Philosophy / Financial Economics
International Business & Economics Certificate
University of Copenhagen

Research

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Lou Hart's published research.

Publications

Featured Publications

2023

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven

  • activity

    Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

  • activity

    Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) Pride Health Network

  • activity

    YNHHS Ending Racial Biology in Medicine Taskforce

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    Stratford Walk & Talk with a Doc Community Health Series

Clinical Care

Overview

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.”

Clinical Specialties

Pediatrics

Get In Touch

Contacts

Mobile Phone Number
Mailing Address

Pediatric Hospitalist Program

430 Congress Ave

New Haven, CT 06510

United States