By DoM Communications  | Date published: November 4, 2025

Secretary of Health and Human Services Visits UMass Memorial 

On Tuesday, October 7, 2025, members of the Department of Medicine met with Kiame Mahaniah, MD, Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services, to discuss the state of primary care. Department of Medicine physicians in attendance included Andrew Siber, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Tri-River, Deborah Blazey-Martin, MD, MPH, FACP, associate professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine, and Bruce Weinstein, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine. Other physicians at the meeting included Joahd Toure, MD, Angela Beeler, MD, Ronald Adler, MD, and Manju Mahajan, MD.  

Together, the group discussed challenges in primary care, administrative complexity, prior authorization, lack of time with patients, and more. They additionally talked about ways to better recruit residents and increase placements in the primary care field to address the provider shortage.