About

Steven A Barrett MD, FAAFP

Dr. Barrett was born in Rye, New York and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. He attended high school at Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland (top academic honors) while his parents were posted at the American embassy in Poland and graduated high school at Phillips Academy, Andover. Then he attended Dartmouth College (summa cum laude), Dartmouth Medical School (top academic ranking) and received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School in 1972. He pursued Family Medicine residency training and Psychosomatic Medicine fellowship at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver and then returned to New England to establish his medical practice in Manchester, Massachusetts in 1976.

Dr. Barrett ran a solo family practice until 1997 when he joined with 2 other local family doctors to form Family Medicine Associates, LLC, which eventually grew to have 10 family doctors and 17 nurse practitioners in 3 locations. He was also active with the Massachusetts and American Academies of Family physicians to develop family medicine training programs for medical students and residents at all 4 Massachusetts medical schools. Likewise, he helped establish a department of Family Medicine at his local hospital and, later, a residency training program in Family Medicine there.

Dr. Barrett was also actively involved with his local hospital medical staff and eventually became President of the medical staff, in charge of assuring the delivery of high quality medical care. During that time, he also participated in the formation and management of physician and physician-hospital organizations to contract with health insurers and manage shared financial risk. He took particular interest in the key role of primary care within the system and delivering compassionate, high quality, comprehensive, cost-effective care.

Dr. Barrett retired from clinical practice after 41 years in 2017 and currently resides with his wife, Debbye, in Ipswich, MA. He has 3 grown children and 3 wonderful grandchildren who are the delight of his life and he also enjoys photography, music, soccer, golf, carpentry, and travel.

Having seen all the changes that American healthcare has undergone since he started in the field, Dr. Barrett is still passionate about the need for meaningful and effective healthcare transformation and is eager to contribute to that critically necessary process.