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Dr. Armen Henderson, a Miami-based physician and activist, is redefining healthcare access by providing free medical care and essential services to underserved communities.
In 2013, when George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin, then 27-year-old Armen Henderson noticed a complete lack of interest at the hospital he was interning at in Houston, Texas.
“There was no one in the hospital talking about it,” Dr. Henderson, who got his medical degree in 2014, said.
The lack of care shocked him and he wondered if he wanted to be a doctor who stayed inside the hospital, or whether he wanted to actively work on solutions for underserved communities on the streets.
Today, he is not just a physician, but the president and founding director of Dade County Street Response, which addresses systemic inequalities by providing free medical care, distributing essential medications, and offering crisis intervention services to Miami’s unsheltered population. But his path to this role was not easy.
Born into a working-class family in Philadelphia, Henderson saw basketball as his ticket to college. However, when an injury put an end to his ambitions, he began looking for a new purpose in life, discovered a passion for science, and started pursuing a medical degree.
He joined a research program at the University of Pennsylvania and expressed interest in their MD-PhD program, but was told he didn’t have what it takes to succeed in the dual-degree track. Henderson remembers that he remained composed, thanked the program head for his time, collected his resume, and walked out. That moment became a turning point: From now on, he wanted to prove the head of the program wrong, and put all his energy into his dream of becoming a doctor.
He attended Meharry Medical College, a Historically Black College and University where he was surrounded by like-minded individuals who shared his belief that Black people deserve fair treatment—a decision he never regretted.
After graduating from medical school in 2014, Henderson completed his internal medicine residency at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital and became an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of Community Engagement at the University of Miami.
In 2019, Henderson founded Dade County Street Response. Since then, the nonprofit’s street medicine team has conducted regular street rounds, treating people in encampments or sidewalks, while its disaster relief team has recruited, trained, and sent out volunteers to assist on disasters. They help communities get ready for potential disasters by providing resources, education, and preventive measures. When a disaster happens, they coordinate efforts to ensure that medical support and essential supplies reach those in need. They also offer medications for diabetes, hypertension, and mental illnesses—no insurance required.
While helping unsheltered seeking food assistance – a partnership with local food pantry The Village (Free)dge, Henderson noticed how many people had medical and mental health issues crises. Yet most couldn’t get the care they needed because the costs were simply too high.
“Imagine having the doctors, the medication, the technology, and the money, and people are still dying 15 years earlier than their life expectancy,” Henderson said.
Despite spending more on healthcare than any other country, 72 million skip necessary care because they can’t afford it, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker that monitors how the U.S. healthcare system performs in terms of quality and cost.
Henderson’s desire to connect with the community pushed him to look beyond the traditional medical establishment. He joined forces with the Dream Defenders, an organization working to address the social determinants of health—like housing, safety, and education that affect a person’s well-being. He opened a clinic named Doctors within Borders that prioritizes access to healthcare over economic profit in 2022. Since then, the clinic has served more than 1,700 patients.
“There are people that only just want to be here, we do serve as their primary care home,” he said.
The organization’s biggest challenge is offering free healthcare in a system built to generate revenue. Dade County Street Response depends on grants and foundation support to operate.
“Every year, we’re always scrounging for pennies, and we make it work the way that we can,” Henderson said. “Our programs are programs that people literally depend on.”
