Yvens G. Laborde, MD
Dr. Yvens Laborde is a proud native son of Port au Prince, Haiti where he was born and raised. He attended Loyola University in New Orleans and then transferred to the University of New Orleans where he graduated with a BS in biological sciences with honors. He attended the Louisiana State University Shreveport School of Medicine, followed by an internship in internal medicine at Tulane University and a residency in internal medicine at Ochsner Health System. He is board certified in internal medicine and joined the Ochsner medical staff upon completion of his residency in 1995.
Dr. Laborde has dedicated his entire medical career to fulfilling Ochsner’s mission to serve, heal, lead, educate, and innovate on a local and global scale. He served as Section Head for Community General Internal Medicine from 2002 to 2006. He was instrumental in the growth and development of the Ochsner Westbank region, holding many leadership positions while maintaining an active clinical practice. He initiated the first inpatient hospital medicine service on the Westbank, enabling Ochsner physicians to care for Ochsner patients admitted to Meadowcrest Hospital and West Jefferson Hospital. He served as medical director for all Ochsner nursing home patients on the Westbank. He distinguished himself with his work ethic, clinical skills, bedside manner, and devotion to his patients. He was famous for making house calls on occasion. As the first black Ochsner internal medicine primary care doctor to practice on the Westbank, Dr. Laborde quickly built a practice that reached 5,000 patients. He was an early adopter of incorporating advanced practice providers into his practice.
He held many overlapping leadership positions at Ochsner Medical Center Westbank, serving as the Associate Medical Director from 2006 to 2009, Vice President of Medical Affairs from 2006 to 2011, and Regional Medical Director from 2009 to 2018. During his tenure at Ochsner Medical Center Westbank, he oversaw the transition of Meadowcrest Hospital to the Ochsner Health System when Ochsner acquired the facility from Tenet after Hurricane Katrina. He partnered with all the major service line leaders to expand the Ochsner physician group presence in primary care, cardiology, emergency medicine/hospital medicine, general surgery, orthopedics, urology, hematology/oncology, ENT, pulmonary critical care, ob/gyn, and psychiatry.
Dr. Laborde was the first black physician elected to the Ochsner Health System Board of Directors and served 2 terms from 2006 to 2013. He made significant contributions during the post Hurricane Katrina recovery. He was the recipient of the 2006 Drum Major for Justice-Caretaker of Hurricane Evacuees Award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He led the Ochsner relief effort in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and was the recipient of the 2011 Alton Ochsner Community Service Award for his local and global humanitarian efforts. He was a finalist for the 2017 US Cooperative for International Patient Programs International Humanitarian and Global Health Leader Award and received the New Orleans City Business Health Care Heroes Award in both 2010 and 2012. Along with Dr. Obi Nnedu and Mark Dupuis, Dr. Laborde led the on-the-ground Ochsner relief efforts in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
He worked closely with Chief Academic Officer Dr. Leonardo Seoane and the University of Queensland-Ochsner Clinical School administration to develop the Medicine in Society rotation in Haiti rotation for fourth-year medical students. He is Co-Founder and President of Fondation Laborde De La Sante et Aide Humanitaire d’Haiti (FONDYLSAHH), a Haitian-based nonprofit that provides humanitarian, educational, and health services in Haiti. He is a special advisor to the Ministry of Health of the Northern Department of Haiti and to Hôpital Universitaire Justinien, the second largest public teaching hospital in Haiti. He has been actively involved in assisting with the Haitian COVID-19 pandemic response plan and its implementation—truly fighting this worldwide pandemic on multiple fronts.
Dr. Laborde currently serves as the Medical Director of Global Health Education and Public Health for Ochsner Health, as well Assistant Professor of Medicine for the University of Queensland-Ochsner Clinical School. He is currently active promoting Ochsner community outreach programs to enhance the health outcomes of at-risk populations. He worked with Chief Diversity Officer Deborah Grimes and Dr. Eboni Price-Haywood to launch the Ochsner Health Disparities Task Force of which he is a member. He was selected to be a Louisiana Department of Health 2020 Health Ambassador in recognition of his extensive community outreach work.
Dr. Laborde credits the following thinkers for inspiring his work and points out the applicability of these reflections to the challenges our nation and world are currently facing:
The time is always right to do the right thing. –Martin Luther King, Jr.
The idea that some lives matter less is at the root of all that is wrong with the world. –Paul Farmer
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity. –George Bernard Shaw
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. –Elie Wiesel
Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world … would do this, it would change the earth. –William Faulkner