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Event speaker Geri Denterlein, president of the Denterlein communications firm, and Joyce A. Murphy with her Worcester Business Journal award. |
UMass Medical School’s Joyce A. Murphy, MPA, was honored by the Worcester Business Journal as one of sixOutstanding Women in Business at Tuckerman Hall in Worcester Nov. 13. She was recognized for being a woman leader, fighting for the needs of underserved populations and her success in the health care field.
Murphy said it was her younger brother Brian who inspired her to follow a career path focused on supporting underserved populations. Brian was 11 when he died from Hunter’s Syndrome at home, surrounded by family.
“My journey began early on,” said Murphy, executive vice chancellor of UMass Medical School’s Commonwealth Medicine division. “I learned that caring and compassion was most important. Working in health care is an incredible honor and responsibility.”
Chancellor Michael F. Collins called Murphy “part Mother Teresa and part Eleanor Roosevelt,” a sentiment echoed by Luanne E. Thorndyke, MD, professor of medicine and vice provost for Faculty Affairs, and Patti Onorato, RN, MS, APN, associate vice chancellor for Operations at Commonwealth Medicine.
Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester, credited Murphy with having an innate knowledge of people. “She knows how to get people to do what she wants, and she does it nicely,” Chandler said.
Event speaker Geri Denterlein, president of communications firm Denterlein, shared the story of Murphy’s grandmother as one of hope in the aftermath of tragedy. Delia Kelly was in her 30s when she lost a child and her husband. She had a limited education, no savings and three daughters. Kelly persuaded a local banker to give her a loan, bought a house in Brookline and turned it into a rooming house. The lesson from the experience, Denterlein said, is to be nimble and have a plan.
