4 Lessons in Leadership from PIH’s New Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Sterman Toussaint has been appointed Partners In Health's (PIH) chief medical officer, where he will further catalyze our care delivery around the world.

Toussaint joined PIH in 2011 as the attending surgeon for the family medicine residency program at Zanmi Lasante, PIH's sister organization in Haiti. Over the next decade, he held several leadership positions before moving to West Africa in 2021, where he most recently served as PIH Liberia's director of clinical services.

Building on that experience, Toussaint has now taken on PIH's top medical leadership post. On July 1, he succeeded Dr. Joia Mukherjee as chief medical officer, who served in this role for 25 years and recently transitioned into the newly created position of senior advisor to the CEO, clinical and academic strategy.

"It is the honor of my life to pass this blessing of a job to someone for whom I have so much love and respect as I do for brother Sterman," says Mukherjee. "If you don't know him, you will love him!"

We spoke with Toussaint about his career, social medicine, and more. Below are four lessons in leadership from his time with PIH Liberia-and how he plans to carry those insights into his new, global role.

1. Prioritize teamwork and collaboration.

When thinking about his most memorable moments with PIH Liberia, Toussaint recalls many, each with a common thread: teamwork. Of note, Toussaint highlights the success story of Dennis Toe, a 7-year-old boy treated at PIH-supported J.J. Dossen Memorial Hospital after being transferred from Pleebo Health Center in November 2022.

A motorbike struck Toe, leaving him partially paralyzed as blood pooled in his skull, compressing his brain. PIH clinicians across departments came together to diagnose his injuries-without the availability of advanced imaging, at the time-and provide comprehensive treatment.

After 21 days of around-the-clock care, Toe could finally move again. Toussaint attributes this success to teamwork. Though there wasn't a neurosurgeon on staff, the health care system had been thoughtfully revitalized over the last decade-by PIH Liberia, in collaboration with the Liberian government-to respond to people's needs, including acute trauma cases like Toe's. Because of this, "we managed to keep Dennis alive without any disability," Toussaint says. "That's what teamwork can achieve. We work together, for each other, to support each other."

That teamwork wasn't always seamless. In fact, Toussaint notes his biggest challenge in Liberia was navigating team dynamics across departments and specialties. However, he believes they managed to achieve that togetherness by better supporting underappreciated roles and reinforcing cohesiveness.

It's not about a single specialty, rather "it's about one team standing in solidarity to support the voiceless, the underserved, and the marginalized," says Toussaint.

Drs. Joia Mukherjee and Sterman Toussaint (second from right) at PIH-supported Neno District Hospital in Malawi. Photo by Joseph Mizere / PIH

2. Be patient and listen.

As a longtime educator, Toussaint has taught hundreds of medical residents-and learned just as much, or even more, from them. By his own admission, he was once impatient; his students taught him to take the time to listen. He carried those skills into his leadership style and work in Liberia, and plans to bring them to his cross-site role.

"I'm starting this new role with a very, very small mouth and very, very big ears," says Toussaint. "Listen to understand [and] to provide feedback to people, to help them to become better. Everyone comes to the table with some knowledge. How can we build on [that] knowledge to make people better?"

3. Understand PIH's mission, values, and social medicine.

In 2010, Toussaint declined a job offer from PIH. He assumed PIH's work might create dependency among people living in poverty-something he did not want to contribute to. Now, he laughs at that thought realizing it was a major misunderstanding. Poverty isn't ever an individual's fault; it's injustice.

"Why is someone going to the field as a farmer working from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and that person is still poor? Something is wrong," says Toussaint. "PIH helped me to understand that people are poor because of what happened in the past and because of current global policies that keep people in poverty."

In Liberia, he felt he finally gained a full understanding of PIH's work. Toussaint recognized that others-across all levels of the organization-didn't, so he spearheaded a social medicine training initiative to help staff better understand the work. Social medicine is an approach based on the idea that social forces-such as language, housing, and income level-affect our health and lead to health inequities. This concept is core to PIH's work around the world and global health at-large; however, it's often not part of medical school curricula.

By bringing this training to Liberia, Toussaint says more staff began to understand why PIH does things the way we do, how to advocate for patients, and why the work is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone.

4. Build solutions beyond health care.

At PIH we believe that all human lives have the same value, and that every human being has the inalienable right to be healthy and to fulfill their potential. To achieve this, we must do more than deliver health care; we also create jobs and other opportunities that help people get back on their feet and become self-sufficient.

In Liberia, Dr. Sterman Toussaint (left) shows crops to Dr. Wesler Lambert, Zanmi Lastane's executive director. Photo by Luther N. Mafalleh / PIH

When Toussaint first met Jowel Mahdee, she was struggling with an undiagnosed illness, unemployed, and wandering the streets without clothes. PIH staff identified her and provided much-needed support: a high-quality medical assessment, a schizophrenia diagnosis, medication, psychosocial support, family therapy, and vocational skills training. Through the training program, Mahdee learned how to tailor clothes. Leveraging strong community relationships, PIH identified a shop willing to hire Mahdee as an apprentice. She's now also a mentor for others enrolled in the program.

"Jowel, who used to be naked, is now the one putting clothes on people. That's amazing," says Toussaint. "We have to continue to do this work. We have to continue to push."

Fourteen years after joining PIH, Toussaint remains deeply committed to the mission.

"This is where I should be fighting against injustice, making sure that people receive the care they deserve in dignity," he says. "This is something that I would like to do all my life, and I won't get tired doing [it]."