Concord resident Malissa J. Wood, M.D. is honored with first Massachusetts Medical Society Women’s Health Award

Waltham – May 5 – Concord resident and Massachusetts General Hospital physician Malissa J. Wood, M.D. has been honored by the Massachusetts Medical Society with its first Women’s Health Award, an honor recognizing a physician for outstanding contributions that advance women’s health in Massachusetts.  She will receive the award at the Society’s Women’s Health Forum in the fall.

In nominating her for the honor, her colleagues noted that Dr. Wood “has pioneered medicine’s evolving understanding of the critical relationship of cardiac health to women’s overall health, wellness, and disease prevention” and has “spearheaded innovative research, advanced education academically and among community clinicians, and actively mentored generations of cardiac fellows in training.”

Board certified in internal medicine with a subspecialty in cardiology, Dr. Wood has been Co-Director of the MGH Corrigan Minehan Heart Center’s Women’s Health Program since 2006 and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School since 2007.  In 2013, she was appointed Director of the Corrigan-Minehan Fellowship Program in Women’s Cardiovascular Disease.

In addition to her clinical duties, Dr. Wood has led and participated in a wide range of cardiovascular research projects; taught and trained medical residents and clinical and research fellows; and lectured and published extensively on cardiovascular subjects. She is also a contributor to the American Journal of Cardiology, the Echocardiography Journal, and Cardiology in Review.

Dr. Wood has been an active member of the American Society of Echocardiography and has served as a member of many of its committees as well as being a member of its Board of Directors from 2006-2009.  Also a member of the American College of Cardiology, she was elected a Fellow of that group in 1997.

She has been a longtime volunteer with the American Heart Association, serving the organization in multiple capacities. She has chaired its Women and Heart Disease Task Force and is a member of its Council on Clinical Cardiology and the current president of the Boston Chapter of the Association.  She was elected a Fellow of the Association in 2010.

Dr. Wood earned her bachelor’s degree and medical degree from the University of Missouri and completed her internship, residency, and a fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.  She also completed a Clinical Fellowship in Cardiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center.

Among a number of awards, Dr. Wood has previously been honored with the American Heart Association’s Mentoring Women in Cardiology Award, the Edwards Life Sciences Foundation Award, the Heart Association’s Northeast Affiliate Mission Award, and the Partners Healthcare Innovation Award from Massachusetts General Hospital.  

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.