With the roll out of three Covid-19 vaccines, there has been a heightened interest in vaccination in the general population. With a panel of experts, Drs. George Abraham, Matilde Castiel, Jim Ledwith and Beverly Nazarian. This educational event is a small-group activity where students and practicing physicians can enter into discussion about these topics and share their experiences. We will have a broad range of topics for our breakout rooms and panelists including: vaccine hesitancy, vaccination in populations without definitive healthcare, Covid-19 vaccine efforts in Worcester, and loss to follow-up in vaccine series.

Dr. George Abraham:

Dr. George Abraham is Chief of Medicine at Saint Vincent Hospital, Professor of Medicine at UMass Medical School, and Adjunct Professor at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS). He earned his medical degree from the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, India, completed his residency and chief residency at Saint Vincent Hospital, and received his master’s degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease.

Dr. Abraham is the Emeritus Chair of the Board of Governors and a Regent of the American College of Physicians.  He is currently the President-Elect and later this year will become the President of ACP. Dr. Abraham is also the Chair of the Infectious Disease Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine.  Among the many, many roles in which Dr. Abraham serves, he is Chair of the Board of Registration (Licensing) in Medicine in Massachusetts, he has served as a Trustee of the Massachusetts Medical Society and is a Past-President of the Worcester District Medical Society.

Dr. Abraham has received multiple awards for teaching and his research interests include hepatitis C and B disease, travel medicine and infection control, as well as medication safety and systems improvement. He has authored over 100 publications, abstracts and book chapters, and is an invited speaker at national and international meetings.

Dr. Matilde Castiel:

Dr. Mattie Castiel is a General Internist and Commissioner of Health and Human Services for Worcester. She brings a wealth of professional knowledge and more than three decades of experience to the role. In addition to strong community-based leadership in the fight against drug addiction and homelessness, she is board-certified in internal medicine, and has been Medical Director to a large municipal EMS system, an ER attending physician, primary care physician, urgent care physician and physician to an elderly outreach program. She received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, and completed her residency in internal medicine at UMass Memorial.

As an administrator and a physician, Dr. Castiel has been at the forefront of the community battle against homelessness and drug addiction.  She is the Founder, Executive Director and Medical Director of the Latin American Health Alliance, a collaboration of diverse community groups dedicated to combating homelessness and drug addiction. She is also the founder of the Hector Reyes House and Casa Reyes, a substance abuse treatment facility and transitional house for Hispanic males in Worcester. Last year, Dr. Castiel opened Café Reyes, an innovative jobs training program in which residents at Hector Reyes House and Casa Reyes run the Shrewsbury Street restaurant.

Dr. James Ledwith:

Dr. Jim Ledwith is a family physician and Assistant Professor at UMass Medical School, having been a member of the UMass Medical School faculty since 2005.  He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, and after residency in Toledo OH, he served the rural Virginia community of Tappahannock for 19 years, where the “Ledwith-Lewis Free Clinic” now bears his name. He assumed leadership of the UMass Fitchburg Family Medicine Residency from 2008 to 2016 and continues to teach in the program while serving as Learning Community Mentor within the medical school and practicing in the Benedict Family and Community Medicine Center.  Dr. Ledwith has had a commitment to service throughout his career. He volunteers as medical director for the free care program at Epworth United Methodist Church and as the UMMS Faculty Advisor for the student organization, the Worcester Free Care Collaborative, leading students in delivering care for vulnerable uninsured and underinsured individuals from Worcester and beyond. He also serves as Faculty Advisor for the UMMS Crisis and Emergency Preparedness Committee which coordinates the medical student response to the COVID pandemic and other public health problems.

Dr. Beverly Nazarian:

Dr. Beverly Nazarian is a pediatric primary care physician and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UMass Medical School.  She completed her medical education at University of Minnesota School of Medicine, and her pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Pediatrics.  Dr. Nazarian’s interests include advocacy, medical education, children with special health care needs, and school health.

At the school, in addition to being a fantastic and well-regarded preceptor, she has helped to educate students in the care of children with disabilities, the physician’s role in advocating for children and families, and the importance of physician collaboration with community partners. She is the school physician consultant for the Worcester Public Schools, and has led an interdisciplinary school reentry pediatrician advisory group for the Worcester Public Schools throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.