Lisa Shmerling

Newton, MA

Imagine a cross between Match.com and the Peace Corps – but with the objective of matching seasoned volunteer physicians eager to share their knowledge with clinics that provide care to the underserved.

The result would be The MAVEN Project -€“ short for Medical Alumni Volunteer Expert Network. MAVEN’s audacious goal? Building a national corps of volunteer physicians to address the unmet medical needs of vulnerable populations.

Our unique approach recruits semi-retired, newly retired and other physicians from U.S. accredited medical schools, and matches them with clinics that provide medical care to underserved populations for remote medical consultations, education and mentoring via telehealth technology. As Executive Director of this early-stage nonprofit, I am responsible for operationalizing our first pilots in California and Massachusetts.

Although I began life as a typical New Yorker from a middle-class neighborhood, our family moved overseas when I was nine. I spent my childhood living abroad -€“ in Japan, the Azores and the Philippines. I was struck by the disparity between those who have their basic needs met and those who do not.

This imbalance and the desire to make an impact stuck with me. I earned a degree in social work and attended law school with the goal of pursuing a career in public policy. However, the job market and school loans led me down a different, yet rewarding path – a 30-year career as a lawyer in technology and biotech.

But my original passion and desire to make more of a difference remained. At age 52, I took the plunge: I enrolled in Tufts Medical School’s public health masters program. (Read this Boston Globe article about Lisa’€™s return to school.) My focus was the convergence of health care policy, technology, law and business for the greater good.

MAVEN’€™s goal is not just to provide the medically underserved. We also hope to enhance the lives of the growing numbers of senior volunteer physicians who want to remain part of a vital physician community and to give back to society. An encore of sorts!

On a personal level, building a new organization from the ground up is as exciting as it is intellectually challenging. Spending time in the safety net clinics that serve vulnerable populations reinforce the feeling that this is where I want and need to be.

Older workers like myself are like a cocoa-powdered chocolate truffle. Kind of dusty on the outside, but full of good stuff on the inside. Many of us wake up in the morning surprised to see an older reflection in the mirror. Inside, we still feel young -€“ eager to learn new things, to add value and to be meaningfully engaged. Having many years of life experience provides an interesting backdrop for taking challenges in stride.

Just as older employees must embrace and learn from their younger counterparts, less-experienced workers can avail themselves of the mentoring and insights of their more senior colleagues. Or, as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow put it: “€œFor age is opportunity no less than youth itself, though in another dress, and as the evening twilight fades away the sky is filled with stars invisible by day.”