President's Message

Spiro Spanakis, DO WDMS President 2020-2022

As I complete my term as President of the Society I am grateful for the opportunity to serve you all in this role. Over the past two years, I have witnessed the laudable dedication of our officers, committee chairs, committee members, and staff promoting all the initiatives that make our district one of the most active and accomplished among all other districts. We should all be proud!

First, I would like to express my thanks to my fellow officers, who all served as mentors to me prior to me being elected to president of the Society. Dr. Whalen, our incoming president, has led our Legislative Committee successfully over the years. The relationships forged between legislators and the Society will continue to yield results for efforts on behalf of our patients in the future. Dr. Magee has spent countless hours streamlining the finances of our society and positioning us on a path that will protect our considerable assets in the future. Dr. Felice’s relationships to the community were valuable as she served as our secretary, and her boundless energy always brought a fresh perspective to our discussions.

The district serves our community in many ways, and there is no better example of these efforts than our scholarship committee, chaired by Dr. Michele Pugnaire. Recently, we received a generous donation of $25,000 from our immediate past president, Dr. Sahdev Passey, and his wife, toward our scholarship fund. We also appreciate all your contributions so that we can continue to support our medical students in the future.

Our district’s publication, Worcester Medicine, continues to create timely, local content on topics of interest to our Worcester community. I want to thank Dr. Robert Sorrenti and Dr. Jane Lochrie for their leadership and dedication to the continued success of the publication, especially as we transitioned to a completely online platform. Recently, we have adopted a guest editor model which has worked well. If you have an interest in becoming a guest editor on a topic of personal or professional expertise, please contact the office. We also encourage you to view our video publication, Health Matters, online on our website, wdms.org.

Our newest committee, the student committee, has made valuable contributions to programming and involving the next generation of leaders in the organization. Student doctor Bennet Vogt and Dr. Anne Larkin’s efforts have contributed to this success, and we appreciate all their efforts.

On the public health front, we were fortunate to have Dr. Michael Hirsh serve as Chair of Public Health Committee, especially as COVID-19 affected our community and patients. Dr. Hirsh’s evidence-based recommendations provided comfort and guidance to all members as we navigated the changing landscape of managing the virus. Dr. Hirsh and the Awards Committee have also identified well deserving awardees for our various member awards.

The Medical Education Committee, chaired by Dr. Mary O’Brien, continues to hold informative, timely, and valuable programs for members. The Woman’s Caucus, chaired by Dr. Lynda Young, continues to provide a forum for women members to exchange ideas and network. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Fred Baker for his efforts as chair of our Personnel Committee.

Our delegation to the Massachusetts Medical Society continues to be a strong voice on important advocacy, legislative, and public health issues at the state level and I encourage more of our members to become involved. There are always open seats to be filled given the size of our district.

I would like to thank the leadership of UMass Memorial for always supporting my involvement in organized medicine since my days as a resident. I would especially like to thank Dr. Stephen Heard, the late Dr. Shubjeet Kaur, Dr. Matthias Walz, Dr. Elifce Cosar and Dr. Eleanor Duduch for their support in all my professional efforts. And special kudos to Martha Wright, our Executive Director, who worked diligently to maintain momentum for all the society’s work during the pandemic.