WALTHAM – Dr. Rick Sacra, a Holden resident and family medicine physician at Family Health Center of Worcester, has been honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society as the 2025 recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award, given to a member of the Society who has made lasting contributions to the practice of medicine over a lifetime in health care delivery, patient care, education, and administration and who has made significant contributions to the goals of the Society.
Sacra who for many years traveled abroad to administer health care to struggling populations, founded a home-based care and counseling program for those living with HIV in Monrovia, Liberia. In 2014, he became the third American health care worker to contract Ebola while providing care in West Africa. After successful treatment at the National Biocontainment Unit in Omaha, Nebraska, and a prolonged recovery, he chose to return to Liberia to assist the nation to recover from a crisis that was overburdening an already fragile health care system.
Sacra was instrumental in starting a family practice residency for Liberian physicians.
Sacra, a graduate of Brown University and University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), is a longtime faculty member at UMMS and was named the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians Physician of the Year in 2015.
The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the statewide professional association for physicians and medical students, supporting 25,000 members. We are dedicated to educating and advocating for the physicians of Massachusetts and patients locally and nationally. A leadership voice in health care, the MMS contributes physician and patient perspectives to influence health-related legislation at the state and federal levels, works in support of public health, provides expert advice on physician practice management, and addresses issues of physician well-being. Under the auspices of the NEJM Group, the MMS extends our mission globally by advancing medical knowledge from research to patient care through the New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM Catalyst, and the NEJM Journal Watch family of specialty publications, and through our education products for health care professionals: NEJM Knowledge+, NEJM Resident 360, and our accredited and comprehensive continuing medical education programs.
