David Scales, MPhil, MD, PhD

David Scales, MPhil, MD, PhD is a physician, sociologist and faculty member at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School. David received his BA in Chemistry and American History from the University of Pennsylvania, received a scholarship to study History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine at Cambridge University then completed his MD and PhD degrees at Yale University, where his dissertation focused on the World Health Organization’s efforts to track and manage the spread of diseases across international borders. His post-doctoral work at HealthMap.org included working on BioMosaic, a Centers for Disease Control project mapping the intersection of demography, migration and infectious diseases and volunteering for SyriaTracker, a non-profit tracking human rights abuses in Syria. David completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, where he currently works as a Hospitalist.

David’s clinical interests focus on providing care to the medically underserved both in the US and in the Middle East. Focusing on migrants and refugees, he works with local NGOs Questscope and the Lajee Center, in Jordan and Palestine respectively, advising them as they address structural determinants of health by promoting agency and minimizing health inequalities. With a certificate in medical interpreting in Levantine Arabic, David’s writing centers on medical communication – between healthcare providers, in the doctor-patient relationship and to the general public. He has written for Aeon, MedPage Today and is a contributor to WBUR’s CommonHealth.