Remembering Nate Nickerson, SPH’s first DrPH graduate.
Remembering Nate Nickerson, SPH’s First DrPH Student
Nathan “Nate” Nickerson (SPH’07), SPH’s first DrPH student, died on May 14, at the age of 69, after a life devoted to advancing public health and serving vulnerable communities in Boston, Maine, Haiti, and beyond. Remembered for his humility, compassion, and unwavering commitment to social justice, Nickerson left an enduring legacy through decades of leadership in healthcare for people experiencing homelessness, individuals struggling with addiction, and underserved populations.
Raised in Bedford, Mass., Nickerson’s sense of service was shaped early in life by helping care for his older brother, who lived with a debilitating neuromuscular disorder. After graduating from Tufts University, he began working at Boston’s Pine Street Inn, where he helped coordinate healthcare services for homeless men and met his future wife, Nancy, a nurse at the shelter. The couple shared more than four decades of marriage and a lifelong commitment to community service.
After moving to Maine, Nickerson completed nursing school at the University of Southern Maine and became a nurse practitioner in 1989. He became a driving force behind the creation of Portland’s Healthcare for the Homeless program, helping transform it into a comprehensive model that integrated primary care with mental health services, substance use treatment, HIV care, and needle exchange initiatives.
In the early 2000s, Nickerson expanded his focus internationally after becoming involved with Konbit Sante, a Portland-based nonprofit dedicated to improving healthcare in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. He used his work with desperately underserved communities as the foundation for his doctoral work in global health at the School of Public Health. As executive director of Konbit Sante for 15 years and later serving as a strategic advisor, he worked closely with Haitian partners to strengthen medical infrastructure, secure equipment and supplies, and support sustainable healthcare initiatives. He immersed himself in the community, learning Haitian Creole and spent months each year in Haiti, viewing the work not simply as employment but as a lifelong calling.
The following remembrance was written by two of his former SPH professors, Eugene Declercq, professor of community health sciences; and Rich Feeley, retired associate professor of global health:
Nate was the first student we admitted to our DrPH program at SPH when the program was established in 2004. At the time members of the committee overseeing the program were delighted to recruit Nate to the incoming class. As one member noted at the time, “Nate Nickerson epitomized the kind of public health leader we established the DrPH program for.” The DrPH provides doctoral training in leadership and management in public health, and we wanted to enroll experienced public health practitioners interested in gaining the skills necessary to further improve the health of populations in need—and that was Nate Nickerson.
Trained as a nurse, Nate showed great insight blending his extensive fieldwork and its public health challenges with lessons from readings, experiences of colleagues and occasionally those of us who taught the classes. His decades of experience in Haiti through earthquakes, political upheaval, hurricanes and a cholera epidemic provided him with an understanding that the myriad health challenges in Haiti can only be addressed through local empowerment and not by helpful but short-lived medical tourism.
In classes he was humble and quiet but fiercely devoted to making people’s lives better. Having taught Nate in several classes, we’re not sure how much he learned from us, but we certainly learned a great deal from him about field leadership, integrity and compassion. Upon learning of his passing his DrPH colleagues reached out with comments focusing on his “kind and gentle soul” and how he was “a humble, smart, special person.” Said one former colleague, “I felt so lucky to have him as a classmate. His depth of knowledge, life experiences, and insights brought so much richness to our class discussions.”
His dissertation, on the feasibility of applying the principles of community directed treatment to prevent hookworm Helminthiasis among Haitian women of reproductive age, remains one of the best, most thoughtful (and longest) in the 22 years of the program. We have used examples from his work, especially related to community empowerment, repeatedly in classes for DrPH students over the past two decades.
Nate worked both domestically and internationally. After graduating from Tufts, he worked at the Pine Street Inn and later helped found the Parker Street shelter. By the time he qualified as a nurse practitioner in 1989, he had moved to Maine, and was hired to create a program in Portland that provided service to the homeless and low income uninsured individuals. There, he developed innovative programs—unusual in a small city—providing substance abuse services including needle exchange and HIV testing and care.
For 15 years, Nate served as the Executive Director of Konbit Sante, a Maine-based non-profit devoted to improving healthcare for the inhabitants of the Cap-Haïtien region in northern Haiti. He spent months each year in Cap-Haïtien, obtaining drugs and medical supplies, providing solar power to health care facilities connected to a failing electrical grid, and improving maternal and child healthcare. He learned Creole, and earned the respect of the entire community. Nate “walked the walk” of a true public health professional. He spoke softly, but when he spoke, you listened. He was a great example of how someone can be humble and caring, yet brilliant, strong, grounded and no-nonsense in their commitment to enhancing the health of those most in need.
Gene Declercq Rich Feeley
Former Director, Former Associate Director,
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