Dear Friend,
I am excited to tell you that I am running to be your next Massachusetts State Representative for the 12th Middlesex district.* State Representative Ruth Balser has led our Legislature on many issues including mental health, climate change and the environment, fire safety, gun control, reproductive rights and freedoms, pay equality, combating antisemitism: the list goes on and on and Ruth has been a tireless advocate for her constituents on every front. We are so incredibly lucky to have had Ruth as our State Rep. When she announced her retirement last month, it was immediately clear that whomever follows Representative Balser's footsteps will have very large shoes to fill.
I believe my eight years on the Newton City Council as Ward 6 Councilor-at-Large and over 25 years as a primary care physician, combined with my passion and experience in delivering on the progressive policies that lift up our City and Commonwealth and make them a shining example for the rest of the nation, make me uniquely qualified to serve as your State Representative and lead on issues that are important to you.
On the Newton City Council, as a citywide elected, I learned how to move legislation forward by listening to residents, building consensus, and forging compromise while protecting our fiscal health and upholding our commitment to our City retirees.
As a primary care physician, my job is to lead with empathy and compassion, while analyzing a problem and formulating a solution -- and fight for my patients and their families. And that is the perspective I will bring to the state legislature.
If elected, I will be the only medical doctor in the entire state legislature. And I believe that matters because Beacon Hill plays a vital role in providing and regulating healthcare. I serve on the Health and Public Policy Commission of the American College of Physicians: healthcare justice and health outcomes equity are issues I feel very strongly about.
Every day I see the limitations of our system: people waiting in the ER for hours before being seen; waiting weeks to see a specialist; putting off care due to being uninsured or underinsured, and more. The Steward Health care crisis is only the latest symptom of the sickness in our health care regulatory structure.