Lisa Iezzoni

Lisa I. Iezzoni (born 1954) is an American medical researcher with expertise in health policy. She is a professor at Harvard Medical School, and based at the Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute, an affiliate of Massachusetts General Hospital. She has dedicated her career to shining a light on inequities in health care among people affected with disabilities.

Education Iezzoni attended the Harvard School of Public Health in the 1970s, from which she received a master's degree in health policy. She went on to enroll in Harvard Medical School, only to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her first year as a student there. She received her M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1984. When the time came to apply for post-graduate training, Harvard Medical School refused to write her a letter of recommendation, preventing her from applying for an internship and residency program and thus from practicing medicine. She therefore became a researcher. There were extreme barriers to practicing medicine with a disability at the time (the Americans with Disabilities Act had not yet been passed).

Career Iezzoni served as an assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine, while also working in the Health Care Research Unit there. One of the students she mentored at Harvard Medical School was Cheri Blauwet. She wrote When Walking Fails, Mobility Problems of Adults with Chronic Conditions.