Woburn Medical Joins WPA

Partnership Strengthens Winchester Hospital Community

Winchester, MA – Woburn Medical Associates (WMA), the largest internal medicine practice in Woburn and Wilmington, has joined Winchester Physician Associates (WPA), the physician group of parent organization Winchester Healthcare Management (WHM), of which Winchester Hospital is also a subsidiary.

"With the monumental changes to the healthcare system causing many uncertainties, we feel it is important to align more closely with Winchester Hospital. It is natural because of our long standing relationship with the hospital," said Harris Ghaus, president of Woburn Medical Associates.

Formed in 1995, the WPA began with a vision to strengthen relationships between primary care practices and the hospital system. They currently manage 24 practices and employ 81 providers.

WPA and WMA will together work to alleviate some of the administrative burden on managing a private practice as both organizations move into a new era in healthcare. This will allow physicians to focus on the many quality patient care initiatives that become more and more important in caring for patients.

"We are excited about this opportunity to combine the strengths of both organizations to continue our common mission to serve the health needs of our communities with the highest quality healthcare," said Ted Sullivan, director of Winchester Physician Associates.

Woburn Medical Associates was founded more than 35 years ago and two of the current physicians – Peter Azar, MD and Salvator Albanese, MD have been part of the group for nearly two decades.

Currently on staff at WMA are Dr. Albanese and Dr. Azar, Ghary Gappelberg, MD, Lillian Moy-Yee, MD, Malini Sharm, MD, Melissa Zorn, MD, Kristen Ghergurovich, MD, Pinky Jain, MD and Mithun Nallari, MD. Additional providers at WMA are Nurse Practitioner – Janet Mayne and a Physician Assistant Jennifer Labor.

About Winchester Hospital

Winchester Hospital is a 229-bed facility and leading provider of comprehensive health care services in northwest suburban Boston offering a broad range of surgical specialties, including general, bariatric, urologic, thoracic, otolaryngology (ENT), vascular, and orthopedic surgery. They also deliver care in other areas, including pediatrics, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, oncology, gastroenterology, rehabilitation, radiation oncology, pain management, obstetrics/gynecology and a Level IIB Special Care Nursery.

Winchester Hospital is part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.