About Marcus

Marcus Greatheart MD, CCFP, MSW, RSW, is a family physician, registered social worker and addiction medicine leader based on Vancouver Island.

His work spans street medicine, hospital-based addiction care, outreach, health-system leadership, education and writing. He works primarily with people experiencing homelessness, substance use and mental illness, and with the teams and systems responsible for their care.

Much of his work sits where care and constraint collide: when workers know what people need but the available system cannot reliably provide it.

Marcus writes and teaches about practical frontline care, difficult conversations, sustainable practice, leadership and the responsibilities of healthcare systems toward people who experience exclusion and discrimination.

He is the author of The Field Guide to Frontline Care and speaks with healthcare, social-service and community organizations across Canada, the US and internationally.