Harvard Medical School has developed a program that connects alumni with students and recent graduates seeking career advice.

Through this program, users can search alumni profiles based on personal and professional criteria.

Alumni can advise on various medical career topics, such as specialty selection or residency applications, offer shadowing opportunities, and more. Users can initiate contact with alumni through the MD Connect portal, and further communication can occur in person, via email, or by phone. The program aims to leverage the diverse experiences of our alumni to support and provide guidance to students and recent graduates.

When you opt-in to MD Connect, you consent to the collection, transfer, processing, storage, disclosure, and other use of your information as described below.

  1. All users must opt into the program for their data to be accessible to alumni and students. 
     
  2. When logged into MD Connect, the following information, if on record with the Office of Alumni Affairs and Development, is automatically included in all user personal profiles: name, MD class year, and all Harvard degrees.
     
  3. Alumni may provide as little or as much additional information as they want and can edit their profile at any time. In addition to name, MD class year, and all Harvard degrees, all information that alumni choose to provide, except home and business addresses, phone numbers, and emails, can be viewed by students and recent graduates during their search. Student information will not be shared with alumni, apart from name.
     
  4. Alumni who opt-in can later opt out of the program at any time. If they do, their information will no longer be searchable. If they opt back in, their profile will show all the previously provided information. 
     
  5. Harvard Medical School’s Office of Alumni Affairs and Development staff reserve the right to review content and communications between users within the MD Connect portal. However, the portal is generally not a supervised environment; staff will not routinely monitor communications within the portal, nor, of course, will staff monitor any communications or contact that occurs outside the portal.
     
  6. Although the portal is generally intended for students and recent graduates to search alumni information and make connections with alumni for advice and guidance, alumni also have the same access to search other alumni information.
     
  7. Biographical data submitted or amended for inclusion in each alumnus’ profile will also be included in the Harvard alumni database. This information may be accessible to other Harvard University alumni, alumni clubs or, special interest groups, other alumni organizations, faculty, staff, and students, based on the privacy settings the alumnus has chosen for their online alumni profile in the Harvard Alumni Directory. These data uses are intended to facilitate communication among alumni and with the University. If you delete or exclude information from your MD Connect profile, it may affect the information in your alumni database record. 
     
  8. The data that alumni provide may also be shared within Harvard for research and analysis purposes, as well as to offer you relevant engagement and philanthropic opportunities.
     
  9. We may share MD Connect profile data, if necessary, for actions related to fraud, unlawful or criminal activity, misconduct, security or technical issues, unauthorized access or use of personal data relating to our website or data systems. This includes responding to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal processes, enforcing our agreements, protecting the health, safety, rights, or property of you, us, or others, and fulfilling legal obligations.
     
  10. We do not authorize anyone else to use the information obtained from MD Connect profiles, whether for commercial purposes or otherwise (including sale, solicitation, promotion, market research, surveying, etc.). See the HMS policy entitled Proper Use of Online Alumni Applications, which applies to the use of MD Connect. However, it is important to note that despite our policies, Harvard cannot guarantee that users will not use your profile information for unauthorized purposes. 
     

Users located outside the United States of America

If you are located in a country outside of the United States that has enacted a personal data protection law, please click here for additional privacy disclosures that may apply to you.

If you have any questions about our data use disclosure, please contact hmsalum@hms.harvard.edu.