Dr. Denis Reigner

Denis Regnier is Lead Faculty for Global Health Equity and Social Medicine and an Assistant Professor at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda. From 2020 to 2024, Regnier served as the Head of Humanities and Social Sciences at UGHE, where he led initiatives integrating the social sciences and medical humanities into global health education. His work centers on the intersections of inequality, health, global health delivery, and social justice, with a particular focus on rural and underserved communities. Regnier has extensive research and teaching experience in Madagascar and French Polynesia.

He is the author of Slavery and Essentialism in Madagascar: Ethnography, History, Cognition (Routledge, 2021) and co-editor of Family Violence and Social Change in the Pacific Islands (Routledge, 2023) and Tensions et Modernités dans le Pacifique Insulaire: Relations Postcoloniales et Conflits Épistémiques (Maison des Sciences de l’Homme du Pacifique, forthcoming). With a strong background in interdisciplinary pedagogy and field-based research, Regnier’s contribution to medical education seeks to help medical students develop their critical thinking skills and better understand and address the structural determinants of health. His scholarship and teaching emphasize the role of humanities and social sciences education and liberal arts pedagogy in advancing health equity.