Presidents Message

Dear Colleagues:

By the time this issue is published, our country will have voted in a new president and will be on the road to recovery from hurricanes Helene and Milton, the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) will have concluded its 2024 Interim Meeting of the House of Delegates, and the Worcester District Medical Society (WDMS) will have had hosted the 33rd Annual Women in Medicine Breakfast, the 18th Annual Louis A. Cottle Medical Education Conference, and the Fall District Meeting and Awards Ceremony. Wow! That’s a lot to digest between two issues of Worcester Medicine!

The Medical Student section of WDMS conducted a park clean-up on September 28th, and gosh there was a lot to clean! Thank you dear students for your enthusiasm on that cold and wet Saturday morning. You are much appreciated and we will look for you to be WDMS ambassadors to your fellow students at the medical school. That very afternoon the MMS Alliance had organized a physician-family day event at Tougas Farm in Northborough, and it was a wonderful opportunity to meet physicians and their families from outside the Worcester area. It was my great pleasure that day to meet MMS’s past president, Dr. Maryanne Bombaugh, and our future MMS president, Dr. Olivia Liao!

WDMS is busy preparing for fun activities like our movie night on December 19th, our 229th Oration on February 12th, and our Annual Meeting in April 2025. Please make every effort to attend. Our team is sparing no effort to make these activities meaningful for all of you. I hope you enjoyed the Cottle Lecture “Are You Called?” as much as I did. I was personally touched by Dr. Kerry-Ann Williams’ call harking us back to why we chose our profession, and then her suggestions to sustain that fire.

A reminder again to sign up for “Health Matters” which offers you a wonderful opportunity to showcase your expertise on our local television stations in Worcester, Holden, and Hopkinton. Please also consider joining our delegation to the MMS House of Delegates and/or offering your service on one or more of our Committees. Visit wdms.org for more information.

In this edition of Worcester Medicine, I would like to give a special shout-out to our treasurer Dr. Adib Karam. He is putting in a tremendous amount of time and energy towards the finances of WDMS. I am confident that under his leadership and with the guidance of past presidents, treasurers, Finance Committee members, and our Executive Director, the WDMS is not just on a strong foundation, but is on a positive trajectory for the future. While on the subject, I would like to inform you that your Officers are working on shoring up the Society’s finances by reaching out to local businesses that are committed to the Worcester community and willing to show their support of physicians, their family members, and neighbors in the area. I hope to soon be able to share some positive results on this matter.

Let me end by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2025.

Sincerely,

Alwyn Rapose, MD, FACP alwyn.rapose@reliantmedicalgroup.org