From L to R: Duane Gill; Kristin Mattocks, PhD, MPH; Sen. Edward Markey; Michael F. Collins; A.M. Barrett, MD; state Rep. David LeBoeuf; Mayor Joseph M. Petty; state Sen. Anne Gobi; and Terence R. Flotte, MD.
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey toured the Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic on the campus of UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester on Tuesday.
The clinic, operated by the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System, opened in late 2021 and provides veterans with access to primary and specialty health care in a space designed for patient-aligned care teams. Since it opened, the clinic has served more than 10,000 patients during more than 44,000 medical visits.
“It’s a glorious partnership between the VA and UMass Chan, which has physicians and other personnel working together to provide care and helping the vets get much better,” Markey said.
Markey was joined by Chancellor Michael F. Collins; Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine; state Sen. Anne M. Gobi; Worcester Mayor Joseph M. Petty; and state Rep. David LeBoeuf.
Markey praised the efforts of the VA leadership team, including VA medical director Duane Gill; associate director Jonathan Kerr; A.M. Barrett, MD, chair and professor of neurology at UMass Chan and chief of the neurology service at the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System; and Kristin Mattocks, PhD, MPH, professor of population & quantitative health sciences and associate dean for veterans affairs at UMass Chan.
“One of the things that we greatly benefit from is the longstanding relationship that medical schools had with the region with this team, and we felt that the veterans of Central Massachusetts could be better served by a closer partnership between the Medical School and the VA,” said Chancellor Collins. “I think now what’s happening is that people have seen how well such a partnership can work. And now the idea is this could be expanded in other places, which we’re delighted that it’s got the attention that we thought it could.”
Markey also met with Robert H. Brown Jr., DPhil, MD, the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Neurosciences and professor of neurology, and Douglas Golenbock, MD, the Neil and Margery Blacklow Chair in Infectious Diseases and Immunology and professor of medicine, touring labs in the Department of Neurology.
Markey spoke with Dr. Brown and Dr. Golenbock about Alzheimer’s and ALS research and the impact that NIH funding is having at UMass Chan.
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