WALTHAM – Michael G. Hughes,
M.D., a retired Navy officer, has been
honored posthumously by his peers of the Norfolk South District Medical Society
as the district’s 2018 Community Clinician of the Year, an honor recognizing
his contributions and professionalism as a physician.
Dr. Hughes, who succumbed to
cancer in September of 2015, was a board-certified emergency medicine physician
who worked for more than 20 years at Mt. Auburn, South Shore and Cape Cod
Hospitals. Prior to his death, he co-founded
Health Express Urgent Care Centers, with his partner Dr. Chris Whelan, to serve
the needs of residents of the South Shore.
Remembered by his colleagues
for his “warm, dry wit and his generosity to others - not only within his
profession but to his family, friends and the community,” Dr. Hughes graduated
magna cum laude from the College of Holy Cross, and received his doctorate from
the University of Massachusetts Medical School on a Navy scholarship, and later
received his MBA from Boston University.
Dr. Hughes rose to the rank
of Lt. Commander while serving as an undersea medical officer. He was stationed
at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico as a member of the Naval
Special Warfare Unit (Seal Team) Four. He also served at the Naval Medical
Center in San Diego and was medical dive officer at the Naval Submarine Base in
Groton, Conn.
Dr. Hughes was well known for
his charitable and volunteer works. He served for a year as a member of the
Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Portland, Oregon. He later became involved with
Bridge Over Troubled Waters, where he worked many evenings on their medical van
treating teens in need. Dr. Hughes
became a member of Bridge Over Troubled Water’s Board of Directors, ultimately
rising to Chair their Board for more than five years.
The Community Clinician of the Year Award was established in
1998 by the Massachusetts Medical Society to recognize a physician from each of
the organization’s 20 district societies who has made significant contributions
to his or her patients and the community.
