I had been a candystriper as a middle schooler and enjoyed visiting with patients at our local community hospital. I would deliver food trays, letters and flowers, and talk with the patients about their illnesses and lives in general. After completing my BS, MS (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) and ScD (Boston University) in physiology, I began to take care of cardiac patients through preventive and diagnostic screening and testing. Always a teacher, I continuously had a concurrent faculty appointment at a university or medical school to teach and train the next generation of health care providers. I participated in clinical research projects and was interviewed for local print media, television and radio, on the topics of preventing heart disease and the value of exercise.

 

In 2000, I was elected President of the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine. Prior to that I had participated on many committees with health care professional organizations. This was my first major leadership role. I really love the role and the organization, putting on a Fall Conference as President Elect, governing as President and putting on a Spring Conference as Past President. It was during this leadership experience that positive feedback was offered to me and I decided I wanted to manage and lead in my career.

 

Through due diligence and guidance from the Forte Foundation, I decided to apply to the MBA Program at MIT for mid mid-career professionals. Gratefully, I was accepted to the one-year Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership. That was a life changing year, with coursework, projects, work experience, and travels to Brazil, China and India. I graduated with a sound skillset in business and set out the make the jump from clinical work to administrative work in the health care sector. This was easier said than done, especially with graduation at the beginning of the Great Recession.

 

Fortunately, I received offers for a series of positions with increasing responsibility eventually achieving the role of Chief Operating Officer for two organizations. It was during these two roles that I discovered ACHE and ACHE MA in 2015. I love the programs ACHE provides, the journals and the excellent local programs in Massachusetts.

 

I am back in the clinic now, after working on Covid both in the front lines, for the town of Framingham during Covid, and on the state of Massachusetts contact tracing project. However, I remain very interested in improving health care, developing new care models and leading strategies for integration into both large and small health care operations.

 

Most recently, I was selected by the board of the MIT Club of Boston to be their next President Elect. In this role I hope to work on developing the future, we are in a very creative time!