UMass Medical School honored Joyce A. Murphy, MPA, executive vice chancellor of the Commonwealth Medicine division, as one of its trailblazing women at the annual Women’s History Month celebration on Tuesday, April 4.
One of seven women recognized at the celebration and highlighted in a video, Murphy spoke of her role in supporting aspiring women leaders. She also talked about the importance of serving as co-chair of the medical school’s Women’s Leadership Workgroup and its study of pay equity.
Marianne Felice, MD, professor of pediatrics and obstetrics & gynecology and chair emeritus of pediatrics, was the keynote and spoke about her journey as a nun and high school science teacher who became the first woman chair at the medical school and the interim CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care. The event was sponsored by the school’s Diversity and Inclusion Office, in collaboration with the Women’s Faculty and Professional Women Committees.
Murphy became the senior executive at Commonwealth Medicine in 2011, five years after joining UMass Medical School and serving as the division’s vice chancellor and chief operating officer. She previously held the positions of president and chief executive officer of Carney Hospital in Dorchester; founding president of St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children; vice president of St. Margaret’s Hospital for Women; first deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue; and superintendent of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Framingham, the only women’s prison in the state.
Murphy serves on numerous boards and commissions, including the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission Advisory Council and Massachusetts State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg’s Advisory Committee on Wage Equality. She is vice chair of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Board of Directors, clerk of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare’s Board of Directors, and a member of the boards of Curry College and UHealthSolutions.
