James Withers, MD, FACP

Since 1989, Dr. withers has been a member of the Pitt teaching faculty at UPMC Mercy. His interest has been integrating medical education with the unmet needs of vulnerable populations. He initiated the field of medicine now known as street medicine (a term he coined in 2004). There are now over 80 medical schools with street medicine programs, many of which he helped to establish. He has trained an array of learners in Pittsburgh, mostly fourth year medical students and UPMC Mercy medicine residents. In 2019, he established the world's first Street Medicine Fellowship (non-accredited) at UPMC Mercy. His other area of specific educational interest has been intimate partner violence.

Dr. Withers' clinical interests have largely followed his educational interests. He has enjoyed working within an urban teaching hospital with an array of vulnerable populations. The concept of addressing reality gaps and contextual blindness have been central and have led him to work with those experiencing housing insecurity, street homelessness, domestic violence, and poverty. The intersectionality of racism, sexism, colonialism, and structural violence has been of particular interest. Earlier in his career, he also focused on wilderness medicine and international healthcare.

Dr. Withers' research has been limited and focused largely on medical education and clinical care. In the context of exploring his passion for healthcare transformation, he created the annual International Street Medicine Symposium in 2005 and the Street Medicine Institute in 2009. Both of these entities have advanced original research in healthcare for those experiencing unsheltered homelessness.