Native of Israel to take over at UMass Memorial Medical Group president

Photo | Courtesy | UMass Memorial Health Care UMass' Memorial Medical Center's department chair of ophthalmology, Dr. Shlomit Schaal

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By Grant Welker

UMass Memorial Health Care has named its chair of ophthalmology as its new medical group president, effective in December.

Dr. Shlomit Schaal will succeed Dr. Steve Tosi, who since 2013 has led UMass Memorial Medical Group, which has roughly 1,100 physicians and is the largest physician group in Central Massachusetts. Tosi, who has held multiple leadership positions over 17 years at UMass Memorial, will continue to serve as medical director for UMass Memorial's captive insurance company and system risk management.

Schaal, a native of Israel, has been chair of UMass Memorial's ophthalmology and visual sciences department since 2016 and instituted new programs during that time, including an ophthalmology residency training program, a same-day open-access clinic and a partnership with Boston Children's Hospital in which Children's providers perform clinic visits and eye surgery in Worcester. She also runs the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program, a year-long leadership development program at the hospital system.

The eye department during her tenure went from one of the medical group's worst performing in physician, staff and patient reviews to one of the best, Dr. Eric Dickson, UMass Memorial's president and CEO, said in announcing her appointment on Tuesday.

"Dr. Schaal emerged as the ideal candidate to take on this important role because of her exceptional leadership skills, her dedication as a clinician-scientist and her strong voice as an advocate for our physician community," Dickson said.

Schaal also turned the ophthalmology department into what Dickson said is one of the best research-funded departments of its kind in the country, raising more than $14 million this year. The department didn't raise any funds for research in 2016.

Schaal earned her medical degree at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, and completed her fellowship at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky and her residency at Rambam Medical Center in Israel.