Berkshire District Medical Society Officers 2022-2023
President: Michael Kaplan, MD
Vice President: Erwin Stuebner Jr., MD
Secretary: Matt Mandel, MD
Treasurer: Everett Lamm, MD
Contact Information
E-mail:
wcro@mms.org
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 1092
Wilbraham, MA 01095-7092
Phone: (800) 522-3112 or (413) 596-9231
Fax: (781) 464-4806
District Event/Activity Contact: MMS West Central Region, (800) 522-3112
Berkshire District News
Dr. Lara Setti of Great Barrington honored by Berkshire District Medical Society as 2022 Community Clinician of the Year
Dr. Lara Setti has been selected as the Berkshire District Medical Society’s 2022 Community Clinician of the Year, an award recognizing his professionalism and contributions as a physician.
Setti is a board-certified family physician with Community Health Programs in Great Barrington, where she has provided care to patient of all ages, from birth to passing, since 2008.
For the past 18 years, she has worked in community health with a particular interest in immigrant health, health care disparities and collaborative health care models. She is passionate about life-long learning and striving to improve health care outcomes, continuity and quality for individuals, families and communities with compassion and innovation. Most of all, she treasures the relationships she has with her patients.
In her current position, Setti has worked with immigrant communities, serving as the only civil surgeon seeing patients in Berkshire County. Over the past few years, she has developed collaborative relationships with local non-profits and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to care for unaccompanied minors and refugees in our rural community.
Setti earned her Doctor of Medicine from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill after which she obtained a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University. She completed her residency in family medicine at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, CA.
She served as the chief resident and was recognized as "Most Outstanding Teaching Resident.” She received her undergraduate degree with honors in human development and social relations from Earlham College, where she completed her thesis on environmental racism.
Setti has served as an environmental activist in the rural South, learned Spanish in El Salvador where she also served as an independent post-war election observer, and practiced medicine in rural clinics in both El Salvador and the Amazonia region of Ecuador. She recently served on the board of directors for Multicultural Bridge in Lee and the Medical Advisory Panel of the Berkshire Waldorf School.
She lives in Great Barrington with her husband, Chris Clark, a hospital physician at Fairview Hospital, and her two children. When not working, Dr. Setti enjoys gardening, hiking, cycling, and sharing time and adventures with her family.
High School Doctor for a Day
Berkshire holds an annual High School Doctor for a Day program designed to provide a mentoring experience for serious high school juniors or seniors. The program assists young people who have expressed an interest in the field of medicine to have hands-on
experience in the complex health care environment.
Medical School or School of Osteopathic Medicine Scholarship Loan
A scholarship loan of $1,000 per year for medical students who are residents of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, was established in September 1961 when the members of the Berkshire District Medical Society approved of a yearly assessment to fund the program.
The amount was increased to $1,500 in 1974 and then increased to $5,000. On March 31, 2021, it was voted to increase the amount to be awarded up to $10,000.
In addition, it was voted that if the awardee returns to Berkshire County to practice as a primary physician and stays for 3 years, 1/3 of the loan would be forgiven each year the awardee practices in Berkshire County.
Scholarships require that recipients be bona fide residents of Berkshire County already accepted at an approved medical school in the United States or Canada. Funds will be paid directly to the school of choice.
The award, known as the Berkshire District Medical Society Revolving Scholarship Loan, was established on a revolving basis so that the repaid funds would help as many medical students as possible. Recipients sign agreements pledging to begin repayment
of the scholarship loan the year of graduation, with half of the amount to be repaid in four years and the balance in two additional years.
This is regarded as a moral obligation and is treated as a contribution to provide more scholarships in the future. Recipients are asked to consider serving residencies in Berkshire County hospitals.
or
Scholarship requests should be directed to c/o Susan Poulin, Berkshire District Scholarship Administrator, 20 Walnut Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201.
VIM Berkshires
VIM Berkshires is the result of a shared dream on the part of many individuals who live in the southern Berkshires: opening a free healthcare clinic to serve the thousands of people living in the southern Berkshire area and adjacent towns in New York
and Connecticut who work without employer-provided health insurance, who do not qualify for governmental assistance programs and who are not financially able to purchase individual healthcare. Group leaders visited the Cape May Courthouse, NJ, West
Chester, PA, and Red Bank, NJ Volunteers in Medicine clinics as well as other free clinics in the Northeast. They became convinced that a volunteer clinic in the southern Berkshires was crucial to closing some of the healthcare gaps facing our community.
For more information please visit the website:
www.vimberkshires.org
