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Dedham resident Leo Stolbach, M.D. is honored as Massachusetts Medical Society's 2014 Senior Volunteer Physician of the Year

Waltham, Mass. – March 24 – Dedham resident Leo L. Stolbach, M.D. has been honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society with its 2014 Senior Volunteer Physician Award, an honor recognizing a senior member of the society who has shown a dedicated commitment to volunteerism and to sharing experience and medical expertise. The award will be presented at the June meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Medical Society in Waltham.

The MMS Committee on Senior Volunteers recognized Dr. Stolbach for his 16-year participation as a faculty mentor in “Caring for the Seriously Ill,” a preclinical course for medical students at the University of Massachusetts Medical School that explores all aspects of end-of-life care.

In presenting him with the award, the Medical Society honored his “contributions to teaching the course and his dedication, gentleness, and compassion, which have been an inspiration to nearly a generation of medical students. Hundreds of medical students, and later their patients, have benefited from his mentoring and personal example of dealing with terminally ill patients.”

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A 1958 graduate of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Dr. Stolbach joined the Division of Oncology at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain and the Department of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in 1964. This began his career as a medical oncologist, which has included teaching, patient care, clinical research, and laboratory research

Throughout his career, Dr. Stolbach has held academic positions with all four medical schools in the state, including full professorships at Boston University Medical School and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and he currently holds the rank of senior affiliate in medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

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In 1985, he co-founded and co-led a Mind/Body Program for Cancer Patients, a support program for cancer patients at the Beth Israel Hospital and New England Deaconess Hospital. In 1991, Dr. Stolbach became Director of Hematology/Oncology at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester and established and co-led a similar mind-body program there. He retired from clinical practice in 1998. He is presently co-leading a mind-body program for cancer patients at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. He has also participated for 15 years in the Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Tribunal as a reviewer for cases involving medical oncology.  

Dr. Stolbach was previously honored by the Massachusetts Society of Clinical Oncologists as its 2012 Massachusetts Oncologist of the Year. A member of the Massachusetts Medical Society since 1967, Dr. Stolbach continues to serve the organization as a member of its governing body, the House of Delegates.

The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 24,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society, under the auspices of NEJM Group, publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and NEJM Journal Watch alerts and publications covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education for health care professionals throughout Massachusetts, conducting a variety of medical education programs for physicians and health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country.





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