Dr. Candib is a family physician educator who has taught and practiced family
medicine, including obstetrics, at the Family Health Center of Worcester since 1976. This
health center is a residency training site within the UMass Family Practice Residency
Program. In the course of treating patients with chronic illness, Dr. Candib was one of
the first practitioners in Worcester to introduce group medical visits in chronic care
management and has conducted group visits for English- and Spanish-speaking patients with
diabetes since 2001. She has written and lectured on the subtleties of cross-cultural
health care across the lifespan and, as part of this area of interest, received a
Fulbright grant to teach family medicine in Ecuador in 1995. She has developed innovative
exercise programs for health center patients at the YWCA and YMCA of Worcester, and
continues working in community activities around the issues of obesity and exercise for
low income and Latino families. She has also focused attention on the concerns of women
trainees and practitioners in her work with family practice residents. She has written
and lectured widely on the topics of sexual abuse and violence against women. The author
of numerous articles in refereed journals, Dr. Candib introduced a feminist critique of
medical theory in her book, Medicine and the Family: A Feminist Perspective (Basic Books,
1995). Within her long term interest in women's health, Dr. Candib has recently
co-authored, with Dr. Sara Shields, a new text on Woman-Centered Care of Pregnancy and
Birth (Radcliffe Medical Press, 2010). She works 3 days a week at the health center and
spends 2 days on other academic pursuits. She lives with her life partner, Richard
Schmitt, with whom she has raised her now adult children Addie and Eli.
"I have been teaching family practice residents for 33 years. Many are now teachers,
program directors, and faculty themselves. Many practice in underserved settings as they
learned to do in training. I feel part of a long stream of committed family
physicians."
Areas of interest: Women's health including maternity care, violence against women,
the doctor-patient relationship, a feminist view of medicine, women physicians, health
and illness across cultures, medical interviewing, continuity of care.
