In his own words: Dutrochet Djoko

Dutrochet Djoko, PharmD, has served as a Salem Hospital trustee since 2022, bringing a unique perspective on health equity to the hospital.

Dutrochet Djoko, PharmD, is an Associate Director and global medical reviewer at Sarepta Therapeutic and has served as a Salem Hospital trustee since 2022. He was also elected to the Danvers Select Board in May 2024. Given the vast range of his experience, Dr. Djoko recently shared his thoughts about his healthcare advocacy work, his perspective on volunteer leadership and Salem Hospital's value to the community.

What inspired you to become involved with Salem Hospital?
I'm a pharmacist by training. I worked for 12 years at Hebrew SeniorLife and for 18 years as a retail pharmacist, so I've been in healthcare for a long time. Charles F. Desmond, Ed.D., who is my mentor and was a Salem Hospital Trustee, reached out to me and said I would be a good person to serve. He thought I would bring a unique perspective thanks to my work as a healthcare professional and my interest in finding ways to narrow disparities within the system. I first served on the Quality and Professional Affairs Committee and was blown away by the efforts that Salem Hospital was putting into community health and equity. I had lived on the North Shore for more than a decade and didn't know all the things that Salem Hospital was doing. After about a year on the committee, the board invited me to serve as a trustee.

I've really enjoyed serving Salem Hospital and getting more involved. I'm also on the Mass General Brigham Trustee Committee on Health Equity and Community Health. Through that committee, we make sure MGB delivers on its strategic missions to improve the health of the diverse community that we serve, identify and eliminate racism in all forms within the organization, and promote a diverse and inclusive workforce — not just at Salem Hospital or at Mass General at 55 Fruit Street in Boston, but at MGB and all its locations.

What made you decide to run for selectman?
I've been involved in the Danvers community since I moved here in 2011. I became a town meeting member, served for nine years on the Board of Health, and chaired the Human Rights and Inclusion Committee for five years. In that role, we implemented changes to make the town a welcoming place for all who want to call Danvers home. Being on the Select Board felt like a natural progression to have as much impact as I could, to create space for everyone to feel like they have a voice. I see myself as amplifying the voices of the residents and bringing their concerns forward. I'll be the first to say I don't have all the solutions, but I won't be a roadblock to having you express yourself.

Both politics and healthcare are often fraught with challenges and setbacks. Can you share a personal experience where you faced significant adversity and how you overcame it?
I grew up in a multigenerational household where healthcare ruled the day. My dad, who was the first in his family to go to college, became a teacher, then a nurse and a midwife. He passed away last year, and one of the proudest moments of his life was delivering triplets. My mom worked at the orphanage in the hospital. He would deliver the babies and if they didn't have parents, he would give the child to my mom to care for. When I was 12 years old, my job in our village in Cameroon was washing and boiling syringes to sanitize them for people with diabetes. Medicine there wasn't as advanced, and we didn't have as much supply as we do here in the United States.

I faced one of the biggest challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a member of the Board of Health in Danvers, we had to implement some measures locally to mitigate the spread of the virus. I witnessed first-hand how difficult it was to balance the individual needs of each resident and the need to protect the community as a whole.

In my own household, we faced challenges. I remember having to remove my work clothes in the garage before entering the house because I was concerned that I may carry and transmit the virus to my kids and/or my elderly parents because we had limited information at the time.

During one of our BOH meetings, many residents expressed frustration, anger, anxiety, and a lot of push back over the different restrictions. It was important to remain calm, to listen, have curiosity, to seek expert guidance among other things. I tell my kids often that individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.

What legacy would you like to have on the Board of Trustees of Salem Hospital?
I love the mission of Salem Hospital, which is serving the community to improve the health of the whole population. I hope that when people come to us, they find an institution where we treat the patient and not the disease. We must think about where this patient is coming from and be culturally competent in our care, supporting the patient not just in the hospital, but in the community as well. I think Salem Hospital does a good job of that.

One of my hopes in being a trustee is that we also build a system where employees have all the tools they need to be successful in their jobs and work in an environment where they can bring their full selves to work. It's so important that we focus on the patients, but we need to equally focus on our providers, staff, janitors and everyone who works at the hospital. Each of us has something to deliver.

I heard this from someone: legacy is not what I do; it's what others do because of me. That's how I think of it. There's an African saying that you always leave the ladder down. When you go up the ladder, leave it in a position where the next person can climb as well, and make sure it's so steady that the person has no chance of falling. I know there's still a lot of work for us do as a hospital, an institution and a nation, and I'm going to continue to do my little part.