Candib honored by World Organization of Family Doctors

Named 5-Star Doctor by WONCA North American Region

January 18, 2013

Primary care physician and pioneering community health advocate Lucy M. Candib, MD, has received the 2012 5-Star Doctor Award from the North American Region of the World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physician (WONCA). Regional winners are qualified to be selected for the Global 5-Star Award to be presented at the WONCA world Conference being held in Prague in June.

Also known as the World Organization of Family Doctors, WONCA was founded in 1972 to improve the quality of life of the people of the world by fostering high standards of care in general practice and family medicine. Its membership now comprises 300,000 family doctors from 126 member organizations in 102 countries who promote its values, including respect for universal human rights and gender equity.

Dr. Candib, professor of family medicine & community health, has practiced at the federally funded Family Health Center of Worcester (FHCW) since she began her residency there in 1974 after graduating from Harvard Medical School. Her pioneering achievements include being one of the first practitioners in Worcester to introduce group medical visits in chronic care management, conducted at FHCW for English- and Spanish-speaking patients with diabetes since 2001. Upon becoming a UMMS faculty member in 1976, Candib added the training of primary care physicians to her responsibilities at FHCW, one of three sites for the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health’s Worcester Medicine Residency program.

Candib’s numerous prior honors include the 2010 UMass President’s Public Service Award; the Worcester District Medical Society’s 2006 A. Jane Fitzpatrick Community Service Award; and selection as one of 300 American women physicians featured in the National Library of Medicine’s 2005 “Changing the Face of Medicine” project. She has published several books, including Medicine and the Family: A Feminist Perspective.

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