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Michael Fine, MD, is a writer, community organizer, and family physician. He is the chief health strategist for the City of Central Falls, RI, and a former Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, 2011–2015. He is currently the Board Vice Chair and Co-Founder of the Scituate Health Alliance. He is the recipient of the Barbara Starfield Award, the John Cunningham Award, and the June Rockwell Levy Public Service Award.
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BOOKS

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On Medicine as Colonialism is a reframing of the health care debate in the US. It is a strident meticulously researched expose that shows how corporate America uses Medicare and Medicaid to extract resources from communities, as it rethinks  the process of colonialism in a globalized world   It has been called “ a sobering diatribe on health care in America,“ driven by “outrage at what has been wrought” – but also provides “a realistic perspective on achieving health equity.” 

Rhode Island. A Tiny State with more stories than people...Hopes and dreams, deaths and disappointments, loves and heartbreaks. Some trying to repair the world. Others overwhelmed by the beauty of the world as it is. All in one place, becoming one people. What democracy looks like. 

10 stories. People whose lives are transformed. People who struggle and survive, who see their world through lost hopes, inappropriate loves, and irrational dreams. 10 stories, each one a new way to listen, see, feel and dream.

2021 IPNE Book Award Winner for Literary Fiction

Health Care Revolt looks around the world for examples of health care systems that are effective ad affordable, pictures such a system for the U.S., and creates a practical playbook for a political revolution in health care that will allow the nation to protect health while strengthening democracy.

"A powerful first novel -- an epic stretching from the civil wars of Liberia to the streets of Rhode Island. A joy to read!" 

- PAUL J.STEKLER, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker

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"The Nature of Health" presents a coherent, affordable and logical way to build a healthcare system. It argues against a health system fixated on the pursuit of longevity and suggests an alternative where the ability of an individual to function in worthwhile relationships is a better, more human goal. By reviewing the etymology, sociology and anthropology of health, this controversial guide examines the meaning of health, and proves how a community-centered healthcare system improves local economy, creates social capital and is affordable, rational, personal, and just.

PROGRAMS

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A lively and educational conversation about turning your life into a story with renowned doctors and writers, Dr. Michael Fine and Dr. Ed Iannuccilli. Listen to their advice on how they did it and how you, too, can write your stories.

Healthcare experts Chris Koller, Rhode Island's first Health Insurance Commissioner and now the President of the Milbank Fund, and Dr. Michael Fine discuss the hot topic of healthcare and hospitals in a post-pandemic Rhode Island. This program requires an esteemed moderator.

Dr. Michael Fine and Joe Mulholland, noted jazz pianist and composer, and faculty member at Berklee perform Dr. Fine's short story called God's Providence and Joe weaves music in and around it.

Dr. Michael Fine and noted hiking enthusiast and journalist John Kostrzewa present on what makes walking so much fun and so good for our bodies. Find out the best trails for differing abilities, how to stay safe, and why walking has such a positive impact on cardiovascular, bone, and mental health.

What does Healthcare have to do with Democracy?
Why hasn't our country embraced Universal Healthcare?
How do we return our Healthcare System to one focused on patients not profits?
What can public officials do to make a difference?

Join Dr. Michael Fine as he answers these questions and more while using his book, Health Care Revolt as the basis for discussion.

Dr. Michael Fine presents, 
Being One People: How the Pandemic Exploited Our Division, and How the Books Can Help Us Be One People Again. He will choose a story from his book, Rhode Island Stories and then invite a discussion about the story and current events.

Praise:

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“Dr. Fine is a major writer.”

—Robert Whitcomb, president, The Boston Guardian, columnist for GoLocal24.com and former financial editor of the International Herald Tribune.

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"Michael Fine’s world is not fair but it is full. His characters are not beautiful but they have dignity. ...To read about them is to read about us."

—Christopher F. Koller, President of the Millbank Memorial Fund

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"The Bull and other stories, Rhythmic with a jazz cadence, poignant, timely and timeless, vivid detail but above all Michael Fine is a storyteller and a damn good one at that."

—Bert Crenca, Founder of AS220

 

“Michael Fine’s short stories rivet our readers in his monthly Sunday morning columns. We can imagine them sitting there with their morning coffee pondering the obvious and the not so obvious life dramas that Michael writes that capture you from the beginning, to the very end.”

—Nancy Thomas, President of Tapestry Communications

 

"Michael Fine... is a master. From first sentence to last, this collection is a rare delight."  

— G. Wayne Miller, Staff Writer at The Providence Journal

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