Gardner-based Heywood Healthcare has named Dr. Kavita Babu, a UMass Memorial Health medical director and UMass Chan Medical School professor, as its new chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs.
“Dr. Babu’s depth of experience, clinical expertise, and commitment to patient-centered care make her an outstanding addition to our leadership team,” Heywood President and CEO Rozanna Penney said in announcing Babu’s hire Thursday.
Babu has worked for UMass Memorial and UMass Chan for more than a decade, most recently serving as medical director of community benefits and as an emergency physician. She is a professor of emergency medicine.
Babu will replace outgoing Heywood CMO Dr. Frank Sweeney, who announced plans to return to retirement in January. Sweeney came out of retirement to serve as Heywood’s CMO in January 2025, as the network worked to regain its footing following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
Babu holds a bachelor’s degree and doctor of medicine degree from Brown University in Rhode Island, as well as an MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. She has a reputation as a strong community advocate, having served as UMass Memorial’s first chief opioid officer, co-director of UMass Memorial Medical Center’s Medical Respite program, and founder of the UMass Memorial’s Road to Care, a mobile clinic that provides free medical care to people with housing and food insecurity, and/or substance use disorder. Combatting and responding to opioid abuse and its fallout is a particular specialty of hers.
Heywood operates hospitals in Gardner and Athol, as well as Heywood Medical Group, a nonprofit multi-specialty and primary care group.
Monica Benevides is a correspondent for Worcester Business Journal.
