Matthew Dacso, MSc, MD
Associate Professor, ad interim Department Global Health and Emerging Diseases & Internal Medicine
Dr. Dacso graduated in 2001 with distinction from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec with a B.A. in music. He subsequently attended the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. During medical school, he completed a one-year Masters of Science degree in international development studies at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). During residency at the Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, he continued to hybridize my skills in international socio-economic development with the clinical practice of medicine. He have since done global health related work in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. From 2009-2011, he lived in Gaborone, Botswana, where he worked with the Botswana-UPenn Partnership to enhance medical education, develop non-communicable disease treatment guidelines, and provide care for patients affected by HIV, TB, and chronic medical diseases.
Dr. Dacso is the Chair ad interim of the Department of Global Health and Emerging Diseases and an Associate Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine. He leads UTMB’s Center for Global Health Education and direct our 4-year global health track. Through this he provide mentorship and supervision to medical students and residents participating in international health electives while collaborating with host partners to design projects that benefit their sites. He has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and abstracts in the areas of interprofessional global health education, “best practices” in short-term global health experiences, global health preparation/mentorship, and academic partnerships. From 2016-2018, he held the Sterling-Turner Endowed Professorship, which supported the development of a Global Health Leadership Academy at UTMB. Over the past several years, he has also initiated efforts to integrate research in global infectious diseases with our global health education program. To this end, he currently is Principal Investigator on a pilot grant to strengthen training and research capacity for vector-borne diseases in the eastern Dominican Republic.
Dr. Dacso was inducted into the Academy of Master Teachers in 2014.