The troubles, though, date back to 2019, even before the COVID pandemic, when the Association of American Medical Colleges reported hospitals in the country were understaffed by as many as 20,000 doctors.
As the leader of the largest caregiver network in Central Massachusetts, at 1,205 physicians, Dr. Shlomit Schaal straddles the world of academia and research, seeking to improve both.
Schaal came to the U.S. to take an ophthalmology fellowship at the University of Louisville, after receiving both her medical and doctoral degrees in Israel and serving as a physician in the Israeli navy.