Dr. Lilia Cervantes received the 2025 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility for her exceptional work promoting equitable access to medicines, mobilizing physicians nationwide to challenge pharmaceutical industry influence, and advancing legislative reforms that prioritize the public’s health over corporate profit. More
"When hospitals fail to make access to assistance easy and predictable, it drives people away from care and erodes trust in our entire system," Saini explained. "Right now, the burden is on patients to navigate a broken system. That has to change." More
“This isn’t a case of red states versus blue states, or rural areas versus cities,” Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute, said in a June 2 news release from the organization. “We’re seeing massive disparities in charity care policies between hospitals that are practically around the corner from each other. Unfortunately, low- and middle-income patients are the ones who deal with the consequences.” More
Reshma Ramachandran, MD, MPP, MHS, to receive the 2025 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility and $25,000 prize. More
“We’re all here because this issue is a moral stain on the fabric of the country… We’re also here because if we want to fix this, we can," Dr. Vikas Saini told the crowd at the 2025 Lown conference on Medical Debt in America. More
Meet Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, the winner of the 2025 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility! More
Meet Emma, Lown's public health intern. Emma is a MPH student at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine. More
Meet Maya Drabczyk, Lown's public health intern and a Masters of Public Health student at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine. At Dartmouth she is a member of the Graduate Consulting Group and a Global Health Fellow. More
Unlike other forms of debt, medical debt is extremely hard to avoid; nobody chooses to get sick, have an accident, or need emergency care. If you’re worried about medical debt, here are three ways you can help reduce your risk of debt. More
On May 15, 2025, the Lown Institute will be hosting a one-day, in person conference in Washington, D.C. to discuss the scope, key drivers, and emerging solutions to medical debt in the U.S. Here's why you won't want to miss this event. More
Fixing American healthcare will require more than mere tweaks around the edges. Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Boston-based Lown Institute, believes that it will require a return to medicine’s humanist roots. In this interview he describes some of the ways in which many healthcare organizations prioritize revenue and profit over patients and communities. He also explains why he remains optimistic that Hippocratic principles will ultimately prevail. More
Dr. Lilia Cervantes received the 2024 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility for her exceptional work advancing health equity and expanding access to care for undocumented immigrants. Watch her acceptance of the award and read excerpts from her speech. More
We asked top Fair Share hospitals to tell us about one community benefit program that was particularly impactful this year -- here’s what they said... More
This past week, the U.S. Mint released the Maine Innovation $1 Coin featuring an image of our inspirational founder. More
Meet Dr. Lilia Cervantes, the winner of the 2024 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility! More
When it comes to hospitals giving back to their communities, it doesn’t only matter how much hospitals spend, but how they spend it. More
Meet Filipa Carvalho, Lown's latest public health intern! More
Manasvini Ranganathan, Masters of Public Health student at Dartmouth and intern at the Lown Institute, shares her journey into public health. More
Lilia Cervantes, MD, to receive Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility and $25,000 prize More
Hospitals across the country have been struggling to keep their maternity unit doors open. Is your local hospital on the list of maternity unit closures? More