2023 Power 50: Dr. Eric Dickson

Photo | Matt Wright Dr. Eric Dickson, president & CEO of UMass Memorial Health, in Worcester

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Dr. Eric Dickson Title President & CEO Company UMass Memorial Health, in Worcester Residence Princeton Colleges Merrimack College in Andover, UMass Chan Medical School, Harvard University in Cambridge Read all the 2023 Power 50 profiles here
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As the leader of more than 17,000 caregivers at the largest healthcare provider and largest employer in Central Massachusetts, Dr. Eric Dickson has a wide-spreading domain. Still, the vast size of UMass Memorial Health has not make the system immune to the financial and staffing challenges impacting every aspect of health care.

Despite this, the system launched its Hospital at Home program, one of the largest similar programs nationwide, which won an American Academy of Home Care Medicine awards for its efficacy. Under Dickson’s leadership, the system more fully integrated UMass Memorial - Harrington Hospital in Southbridge, bringing additional healthcare resources and technology to the communities southwest of Worcester.

UMass Memorial, which generated $3.5 billion in revenue for fiscal 2022, is the only safety-net hospital in the region, elevating its and Dickson’s responsibility to vulnerable populations who might not otherwise have access to care. With a level one trauma center, a level three neonatal intensive care unit, stroke center, and liver center, the hospital provides services that can be the difference between life or death.

Extending beyond his role at UMass, Dickson became chair of America’s Essential Hospitals’ board of directors, a role allowing him to advocate nationally for patients and the community.

How should professionals best use the power they wield? “Leaders should use their positions to implement the ideas of their people, not their own ideas, but those of their front-line people who are closer to the work. They should be the Chief Barrier Removers to help teams break through obstacles that may prevent them from implementing ideas to improve their daily work.”

Actual horseshoes: At age 55, Dickson enrolled in farrier school to train to care for horses' hooves, including shoeing them.

Read all the 2023 Power 50 profiles here.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to the board leading the America's Essential Hospitals organization as the board of trustees. The correct name for the leadership is the board of directors.