Center for Immigrant Health

The interdisciplinary MGH Center for Immigrant Health (CIH) fosters excellence in clinical care, education, advocacy and research to improve the health and wellbeing of immigrants, across all departments and clinical sites at MGH and within the broader community. The Center’s programming serves the needs of both immigrant patients and staff.

The MGH CIH seeks to ensure that all MGH employees are equipped with the knowledge and resources to meet the needs of immigrant patients, and that all immigrant patients — regardless of legal status — feel safe accessing care to optimize their health.

The six pillars of the MGH CIH include:

• Resource development and navigation. The MGH CIH provides outreach and guidance to help immigrant patients, staff, and their families navigate access to hospital and community resources, including medical, dental, insurance, legal, educational, housing, nutrition, and interpretation services. All resources are vetted to ensure that patients can access them without undue fear of repercussions for their immigration status.
• Clinical programming. The MGH CIH clinical team includes expertise in internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry. The Center will develop mental health programming to address resettlement and acculturation stressors as well as the trauma and isolation experienced by some members of the immigrant community. The Center will also develop culturally informed nutrition programming to address food insecurity and risk factors for obesity.
• Education. The MGH CIH collaborates with experts in immigrant and refugee health to develop and disseminate best practices in caring for immigrant patients through educational modules for staff and clinical electives for students and residents.
• Advocacy. The MGH CIH leverages its expertise in immigrant health to advocate for legislation and policies that promote the wellbeing of our immigrant patients and staff and their families.
• Quality improvement and research. The MGH CIH seeks to identify opportunities to improve the quality of clinical care for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients, and to study factors that affect immigrant health outcomes.
• Inclusivity. The MGH CIH collaborates with the MGH Immigrant Health Coalition (IHC) and multiple institutional partners to promote a welcoming environment at MGH that celebrates our patients’ and staff’s diverse backgrounds and immigration histories.

Get Involved

The MGH Immigrant Health Coalition (IHC) is an interdisciplinary network of more than 200 MGH employees dedicated to advancing the health and social equity of immigrants. The IHC meets monthly to discuss opportunities to promote immigrant health, and maintains an active listserv.

For inquiries or for MGH employees/students seeking to join the IHC, email MGHImmigrantHealthCoalition@partners.org.

Migration Is Beautiful

Migration Is Beautiful is an initiative that aims to bring awareness and celebrate the diversity that comes with immigration. It uses the monarch butterfly as a symbol of migration. Each year, the monarch butterfly begins its journey in central Mexico and goes back to the United States and Canada. In this way, the butterfly has become a symbol of migration as a natural occurrence and of the importance of migration to the human experience. Many MGH employees wear monarch butterfly stickers on their ID badges as a symbol of solidarity and welcome to immigrant patients.

News: Mass General Celebrates "Migration Is Beautiful"
Hear our director, Dr. Fiona Danaher, speak about the campaign and the launch of the MGH Center for Immigrant Health.

Download the Migration Is Beautiful Zoom Background and Virtual Stickers