MMS Leadership Biographies

2025-2026

Olivia C. Liao, MD, FACS
President

Olivia Liao is a board-certified ophthalmologist at Lexington Eye Associates, a multi-specialty private practice group with 6 locations. She has served on its Board of Directors and as its Treasurer since 2000. Also, as a founding member and co-owner of Surgisite Boston, Dr. Liao is a member of its Quality Assurance Committee. At Emerson Hospital since 1996, she has held numerous committee positions, including Medical Staff Officer.

Dr. Liao has been an active member of the Massachusetts Medical Society since 1988 and dedicates effort to multiple committees. Within Middlesex District, her responsibilities include executive committee member, secretary-treasurer, previous vice-president, and president. She was named the 2019 Middlesex District’s Community Clinician of the Year. She served as MMS’s vice-chair and chair of the Committee on Legislation, co-chair of the Working Group on Governance Reform, chair of the Task Force on Joint and Several Liability, vice-chair of the District Leadership Council, vice-chair of the Committee for Strategic Planning, member of the Board of Trustees, member of the Committee on Administration and Management, and member of the Task Force on Health Insurance Policy.

She is a longtime member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology; the New England Ophthalmological Society; the Massachusetts Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, serving as its co-councilor and on the Board of Trustees in 2022; the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons; Women Ophthalmologists of Boston; and a Fellow at the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Liao graduated from the Six-Year Medical Program of Boston University College of Liberal Arts and was conferred her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine. She completed residencies and board certification in internal medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital and in ophthalmology at Tufts-New England Medical Center New England Eye Center.

She has been honored with multiple awards for her exceptional service, leadership, dedication, and expertise in the field of ophthalmology. Dr. Liao is an active volunteer for the Lions Club and the Community Council on Aging and conducts annual vision and glaucoma screenings and fundraising for Emerson Hospital's family health events. She has served as the traveling doctor for the New England Conservatory's piano department.

Rebecca Weintraub Brendel, MD, JD
President-Elect

Rebecca Weintraub Brendel is a board-certified psychiatrist and director of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, where she is Frances Glessner Lee associate professor of global health and social medicine in the field of legal medicine and associate professor of psychiatry. Dr. Brendel's clinical practice is based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where she is director of ethics for the Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry and director of law and ethics at the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior. Her work focuses on the intersection of psychiatry, law, and ethics — she has made significant contributions to these fields through her clinical practice, teaching, scholarship, and leadership roles.

Dr. Brendel has been an active member of the Massachusetts Medical Society since 2015 and dedicates effort to multiple committees, including as vice-chair and chair of the Committee on Ethics, Grievances, and Professional Standards, of which she continues to serve as an advisor. She currently serves as a member of the Working Group on Governance Reform and a mentor to the Early Career Mentorship Program. She is also a former chair of the Late and Deferred Resolution Committee and served on the Strategic Planning Work Group.

In professional leadership, Dr. Brendel served as the president of the American Psychiatric Association from 2022 to 2023, of which she is a Distinguished Fellow. She is also a past president and fellow of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. Currently, she is a co-opted consultant to the World Psychiatric Association Ethics Committee and serves as vice-chair in her sixth year of a seven-year appointment to the American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. She has also served as a member of the ethics committees of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law and the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society.

Dr. Brendel’s clinical work has included positions as an embedded psychiatrist for a medical inpatient team treating psychosocially complex patients at risk for long lengths of stay, as clinical director of the Red Sox Foundation and MGH Home Base Program for returning veterans and their families, as medical director of the One Fund Center for Boston Marathon bombing survivors and their families, and as medical lead of the MGH guardianship team.

Dr. Brendel earned her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with distinction from Yale College. She graduated with honors from both the University of Chicago Law School and the Pritzker School of Medicine. Her postgraduate training includes a medical internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a psychiatry residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital, followed by a forensic psychiatry fellowship at MGH. She was also an Edmond J. Safra Faculty Fellow in Ethics at Harvard University. In addition to her medical qualifications, Dr. Brendel is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.

Hugh M. Taylor, MD
Immediate Past President

Hugh Taylor is a board-certified family physician who has maintained a practice in Hamilton, MA, since 1982. He has been on staff at Beverly Hospital for over 40 years and has served as a member of its Board of Trustees, as well as President of the Medical Staff.

A member of the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) since 1983, he serves the organization in several capacities, including as a delegate from Essex South District. He previously served on the MMS Board of Trustees, and as a member and chair of the Committee on Strategic Planning, chair of the Committee on Finance, chair of the Committee on Legislation, chair of the Committee on the Sustainability of Private Practice, vice chair of the Committee on Information Technology, chair of the Task Force on EHR Interoperability and Usability, and as chair of the Reference Committee on Public Policy. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the MMS and Alliance Charitable Foundation. Dr. Taylor is a past president of the Essex South District Medical Society. He has immensely enjoyed his terms as MMS Vice President, President Elect, and President.

Dr. Taylor served as an instructor in family medicine at Boston University School of Medicine for nearly 25 years.

As an active and longstanding member of the American Medical Association, Dr. Taylor served as an AMA delegate for the American Academy of Family Physicians from 2010 to 2023. He also served on the AMA’s Governing Council of the Specialty and Service Society, including as its chair from 2018 to 2019.

He is an active member of the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians, where he served as President from 1996-98; and the American Academy of Family Physicians, where he served as a delegate to the AAFP Congress of Delegates from 2004-2011, and chaired the Commission on Governmental Advocacy from 2009- 2010.

Dr. Taylor is a graduate of Harvard College. He earned his MD from Harvard Medical School and did his residency in family medicine at University Hospitals of Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio.

Lee S. Perrin, MD
Secretary-Treasurer

Lee S. Perrin is a recently retired anesthesiologist formerly practicing at Steward St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center (SEMC) and who served on many SEMC committees. He was also a staff anesthesiologist at Nashoba Valley Medical Center and Carney Hospital.

A member of the Massachusetts Medical Society since 1985, he has served as Trustee and Delegate for many years. Dr. Perrin has held numerous roles in the organization, including serving as Councilor/Delegate from Middlesex District Medical Society (1986-present); President of Middlesex District (1999-2001); on many committees; and was recently appointed as Chair of the MMS Alliance, and Charitable Foundation Board of Trustees. In 2012, he was awarded the Community Clinician of the Year by the Middlesex District Medical Society.

Dr. Perrin is active with the American Medical Association, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the International Anesthesia Research Society, the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, the Middlesex District Medical Society, and the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists.

Dr. Perrin is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his MD from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and did his residency in anesthesiology at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. He completed a research fellowship in obstetric anesthesia at Boston Hospital for Women, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and in pediatric anesthesia at New England Medical Center. Dr. Perrin has been a Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine since 1999.

Eli C. Freiman, MD, FAAP
Speaker of the House of Delegates

Eli C. Freiman is a board-certified pediatrician and pediatric emergency medicine physician at Newton Wellesley Hospital.

A member of the Medical Society since he was a medical student in 2012, Dr. Freiman has served the organization in many capacities. He is currently a co-chair of the Governance Reform working group, a member of the Society’s American Medical Association (AMA) Delegation, and a Middlesex District Delegate. He has previously served as a member on the Board of Trustees, vice-chair of the Committee on Legislation, a member of the Committee on Strategic Planning, a member of the Committee on Nominations, a member of the Subcommittee on Governance, a member of the Committee on Recognition Awards, the Chair of the Resident and Fellow Section, and as both a Resident and Fellow and Medical Student Section Delegate.

Dr. Freiman is active with the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). A long-time leader within the AMA’s medical student section (MSS) and resident and fellow section (RFS), he has previously served as the AMA RFS Speaker and MSS Region 7 chair. Locally, Dr. Freiman helped co-found the first medical student committee in the Massachusetts Chapter of the AAP (MCAAP). He is a long-time member of the MCAAP’s legislative committee and recently assumed the role of vice-chair.

Dr. Freiman earned his BS magna cum laude from Duke University in evolutionary anthropology and his MD at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He has been elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha academic honor societies. He served as a categorical pediatrics resident at the Boston Combined Residency Program (Boston Children’s Hospital/Boston Medical Center) and later served as Chief Resident in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital. He has been honored with multiple teaching awards by Harvard Medical School. He completed his fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Grayson W. Armstrong, MD, MPH
Vice Speaker of the House of Delegates

Grayson W. Armstrong, MD, MPH is a board-certified ophthalmologist at Mass. Eye and Ear (MEE). He specializes in medical retina, comprehensive ophthalmology, complex cataract surgery, and ocular trauma.

Dr. Armstrong has been an active member of the Medical Society since joining in 2013. He is the chair of the Committee on Bylaws, a current member of the Committee on Strategic Planning, a member of the Task Force on Health Insurance Policy, a member of the House of Delegates, and a member of the Massachusetts Delegation to the American Medical Association (AMA). He has previously served as a member of the Committee on Public Health and is a past president of the Middlesex District Medical Society. In 2022, Dr. Armstrong received the MMS Barbara A. Rockett MD Early Career Physician Leadership Award for exemplary leadership in organized medicine and mentorship.

Dr. Armstrong is active with the American Medical Association (AMA) and serves the organization in several capacities. He has served on the AMA’s Board of Trustees for a two-year term and was previously on the Board of Directors of the American Medical Association’s Political Action Committee (AMPAC). He formerly served as the AMA’s chair and vice-speaker of the Medical Student Section and as an alternate delegate of the House of Delegates Governing Council of the Resident and Fellows Section. Dr. Armstrong is an involved member of the American Academy of Ophthalmologists, and was awarded the Artemis award in 2023 for his caring and service to an exemplary degree to his patients as a young ophthalmologist. He also currently serves as the president of the Massachusetts Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, and on the board of the American Society of Ophthalmic Trauma.

Dr. Armstrong is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned his MPH from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and his MD from The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. At MEE, he served as chief resident in Ophthalmology, completed a clinical fellowship in Ophthalmic Telemedicine at MEE and a second fellowship in Medical Retina at MEE. He serves as the Director of Ophthalmic Emergency Services for MEE and Harvard Medical School, and serves as the Associate Director of Ophthalmic Medical Student Education at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Armstrong has been an instructor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School since 2019.

Lois Dehls Cornell
Executive Vice President

Lois Dehls Cornell is the Executive Vice President of the Massachusetts Medical Society. Appointed to the position June 1, 2016, Ms. Cornell is responsible for the operation and management of the Society and its operating divisions, and she provides oversight for its several subsidiaries. In addition to its membership advocacy, public health and educational activities, the Society, under the auspices of NEJM Group, publishes the New England Journal of Medicine.

Prior to joining the Medical Society, Ms. Cornell spent 24 years at Tufts Health Plan, where she served as Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel. Prior to joining Tufts Health Plan, Ms. Cornell was an Associate at the Boston law firm of Goodwin Procter.

Ms. Cornell has been recognized for contributions to her profession by Women’s Business Boston, which named her one of the Top 10 Women Corporate Lawyers in Boston, and Massachusetts Lawyer’s Weekly with its In-House Leaders-in-the-Law Award. She is also a recipient of the YWCA Boston’s Academy of Women Achievers Award. In 2018, with Ms. Cornell at the helm, the Massachusetts Medical Society was named by the Commonwealth Institute and Boston Globe Magazine as a Top 100 Woman-Led Organization in Massachusetts.

Ms. Cornell serves on the boards of the Pan Massachusetts Challenge and Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, and is a member of the Massachusetts Women’s Forum. She is past president of the American Health Lawyers Association.

Ms. Cornell received her B.A. cum laude from Macalester College and earned her J.D. from the Northeastern University School of Law. She also completed the Advanced Management Program of Harvard Business School and the Executive Leadership Program of America’s Health Insurance Plans.