Judy Ann Bigby, M.D.

Judith Ann Bigby

Judy Ann Bigby, M.D., is the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."  As Secretary she has implemented many of the features of the state's landmark health reform law that resulted in a rate of more than 97% insured."  " She oversees 16 state agencies ranging from child welfare to elders, disabled populations to veterans, and the Medicaid program and the department of public health."  As Secretary she is committed to the state's responsibility to the most vulnerable citizens of the Commonwealth and to ensuring the safety and well-being of all the state's residents.

Prior to her appointment as Secretary, Dr. Bigby served as the Medical Director of Community Health Programs at Brigham & Women's Hospital. She was also Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the school's Center of Excellence in Women's Health. She has served on many boards and expert panels including the Boston Public Health Commission, the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21^st Century, and the Minority Women's Health Panel of Experts for the US Department of Health and Human Services. " She was President of the Society of General Internal Medicine, the only national organization representing primary care internal medicine doctors, from 2003 to 2004.

She graduated from Wellesley College and earned her doctor of medicine degree at Harvard Medical School in 1978. Born in Jamaica, New York, Bigby and her siblings were the first in their family to attend college, and she was the first to become a doctor.