The award is chosen by her peers in the Massachusetts Medical Society. Dr. Akerkar was featured in the Lowell Sun, where she thanked the hospital and her colleagues.
“Lowell General has done such an amazing job of being a leader,” she told the Sun. “I’m getting the award, but I couldn’t be getting the award without … the hospital and, of course, my practice. This has been a remarkable year, to say the least.”
Dr. Akerkar works at the same Chelmsford practice founded by Dr. Doree Barton in 1983, a time when there were few female physicians. Dr. Barton died from cancer in 2015.
“She is the consummate clinician who brings the highest level of care to the community,” Dr. Jim Reichheld, Dr. Akerkar’s colleague in Chelmsford, said to the Sun. “She really took the baton from Doree Barton, who was truly a pioneer in female leadership and care of the female patient. And she has taken that baton and brought it to the community in a lasting way. It’s truly amazing what she’s done.”
