Juana Moro | Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery

When Juana Moro, MD, began treating patients in the emergency department of Hospital Nacional Posadas—one of Argentina’s largest public hospitals—she encountered more than the clinical challenges of emergency medicine. Every day, she saw the structural inequities that shape who receives care, how quickly, and under what conditions.

“Working in emergency medicine exposes you to the reality of a health system,” she reflects. “You see its strengths and its deepest cracks.”

Those cracks became impossible to ignore during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Argentina’s fragmented public-private health network was tested beyond capacity. For Moro, the experience made one thing clear: technical skill and clinical knowledge were not enough. To make meaningful change, she needed new tools, the kind that come from studying how health systems are built, funded, and delivered.

Today, Moro is pursuing those tools as a Fulbright Scholar and a first-year student in Harvard Medical School’s Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery program. Guided by thesis mentor Jaime Bayona, MD, MPH, a Peruvian physician and longtime collaborator of the late Dr. Paul Farmer, she is focusing her research on how reforms in Argentina’s primary-care system have affected equity and access.

Her story is one of continuity rather than reinvention: a clinician seeking not to leave medicine behind, but to transform access to reach those who are often left out.

Moro graduated with honors from the University of Buenos Aires, where she completed both her medical degree and postgraduate training in emergency medicine. She has spent more than seven years at Hospital Nacional Posadas, a national referral center that treats patients from across Argentina and neighboring countries.

“Our hospital is on the western edge of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, about 40 minutes from the city,” she explains. Many of her patients come from communities with limited resources, or travel from distant provinces where specialized care doesn’t exist.

While serving on the front lines, Moro began pursuing a PhD in molecular biology and oncology, studying drug resistance mechanisms in breast cancer treatment. Balancing night shifts in the emergency department with long hours in the laboratory, she built a career that straddled the immediate demands of patient care and the slower, meticulous pace of research.

That dual perspective helped shape her understanding of health systems as living organisms. “Research teaches you to look for root causes,” she says. In global health, the root causes are social and structural.

Moro describes herself as naturally curious, a trait that first led her into scientific research. But curiosity alone didn’t explain the dissonance she felt between the complexity of Argentina’s health care infrastructure and the limited tools available to change it.

“I had this deep sense that something was missing,” she says. “I could see inequity, but I didn’t know how to analyze or address it.”

Searching for a program that went beyond public health theory, she discovered Harvard Medical School’s Global Health Delivery program, founded on the principles of equity and accompaniment championed by Dr. Paul Farmer. Its interdisciplinary approach combining social medicine, implementation science, and health system design felt like the framework she had been seeking.

Moro had known about the Fulbright Program for years but had never imagined herself applying. “It always seemed like something for other people,” she admits. That changed when she decided to pursue graduate study abroad.

She began the rigorous Fulbright application process in early 2024, before she had even identified the Global Health Delivery program at Harvard. The Fulbright Commission in Argentina provided not just financial support but also mentorship, workshops, and community. For applicants unfamiliar with the U.S. academic system, those resources were invaluable.

“In Argentina, we don’t usually write personal statements or go through such structured admissions processes,” she explains. “Fulbright guided us through each step, even covering exam fees, which can be a major barrier when you’re paying in dollars.”

That guidance, she adds, extended beyond paperwork. “The most valuable part was the sense of community. We formed a network of Argentine scholars applying to different disciplines like law, design, data science, and public health, and supported each other through every step.”

By the time she received her Fulbright award and her Harvard acceptance, the two paths had merged. “It felt like the perfect alignment,” she says. “Fulbright’s mission is to build leaders who create change; Global Health Delivery trains people to do exactly that in health care.”

Arriving in Boston in August 2025 was both exhilarating and overwhelming. “The first weeks were intense,” Moro recalls. The workload was steep, and the cultural adjustment was sharper than she had anticipated. But the small size of her cohort—just 14 students—quickly became a source of stability.

“We spend six hours a day together,” she says. “And then, we make plans after class. It really feels like a community.”

Now in her first semester, Moro is enrolled in in five courses including implementation science, qualitative methods, quantitative methods, a thesis-proposal course. Moro notes that two courses in particular have reframed how Moro interprets the challenges that she once confronted in the emergency room: in Global Health and Social Medicine, taught by Joia S. Mukherjee, MD, MPH, and Ethnographic Methods for Global Health Research with Byron Good, PhD.

“Dr. Mukherjee’s class connects current global health problems to their historical and political roots,” she says. “It teaches us to analyze systems, not just symptoms.”

Ethnography, meanwhile, has offered a new lens on patient and community experience. “For me, it’s completely new territory… learning to listen, to observe, to understand context before drawing conclusions. It’s changing the way I think about medicine.”

Even before arriving at Harvard, Moro had begun outlining ideas for her master’s thesis. Now working with Dr. Bayona, she plans to evaluate a recent primary health care reform in Buenos Aires and its impact on equity in access to care.

“Argentina’s health system is deeply fragmented and hospital-centered,” she explains. Primary care in Argentina, especially when integrated with local communities, is what strengthens health outcomes. Moro’s research will examine whether the reforms have improved equity and where the gaps remain.

Her approach blends qualitative and quantitative analysis, combining epidemiologic data with field interviews and policy review, to capture both numbers and narratives. The project, she hopes, will inform future reforms not just in Buenos Aires but also across Latin America.

Having a mentor who understands the region’s complexities has been essential. “Dr. Bayona brings decades of experience in community-based health systems in Peru,” she says. “We speak the same language, and I don’t just mean Spanish. We share an understanding of the political realities and constraints that shape health care in Latin America.”

For Moro, the resonance between Fulbright’s mission and the Global Health Delivery program’s values is more than symbolic. Both, she says, cultivate a model of leadership rooted in service.

“Fulbright prepares you to become an agent of change,” she notes. “The Global Health Delivery program teaches you how to do it responsibly.”

That combination has also shaped how Moro sees her role as a Latin American woman in global health. “Women from our region are often told there are limits, that opportunities aren’t for us,” she says. “If my path can inspire someone else to dream big, to see themselves as capable of contributing globally, that’s the ripple effect I want.”

Moro plans to return to Argentina after completing her degree to contribute to health system reform and strengthen the country’s emergency-care infrastructure. Her long-term vision is to integrate clinical work, policy design, and research, using data to inform equitable decision-making.

When asked what guidance she would offer prospective applicants, Moro emphasizes connection and purpose. “Talk to students and alumni,” she advises. “Their perspectives are invaluable. And read about the program’s roots: the work of Paul Farmer, Partners In Health, and others who believe that injustice in health care is not inevitable. If that idea resonates, this program is the right place for you.”

Her advice to aspiring Fulbright applicants is equally pragmatic. “Don’t underestimate the process,” she cautions. “Start early, seek mentors, and focus on authenticity. Fulbright isn’t about titles; it’s about impact.”

Moro represents the growing intersection between prestigious international fellowships and Harvard’s mission to train leaders in global health. Her story illustrates how programs like Fulbright can expand access to education that directly shapes communities worldwide. But beyond institutional alignment, her journey is personal: a doctor from Buenos Aires who refuses to accept inequity as an inevitability.

Written by Bailey Merlin