Our History

Throughout its history, the University of Massachusetts Medical School(UMMS) has been dedicated to fulfilling its mission to serve the public. Twenty years ago, pioneering faculty and administrators at the Medical School, including current UMMS Chancellor and Dean Aaron Lazare, M.D., realized the school could have a direct and profound impact the communities within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Medical School staff began to reach beyond the traditional boundaries of academia to establish research initiatives, training programs and clinical services focusing on the public sector.

Over the past decade, this approach resulted in the creation of several groundbreaking programs in public sector financing, clinical training and policy research with remarkable success. After initially operating independently of one another, these individual programs were brought under a single organizational umbrella with the formation of Commonwealth Medicine in 1999.

The organization grew quickly and organically—particularly as the need for expertise in specialized populations became apparent and demand for high-quality clinical services increased. Today, Commonwealth Medicine operates dozens of individual programs and centers, serving public sector agencies in 16 states. While its programs are diverse in scope and function, all are united under Commonwealth Medicine’s mission to serve vulnerable populations.