Susan Abend

Susan Abend

Chief Executive Officer, The Right Care Now Project, Inc.

Susan L. Abend MD, FACP is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Right Care Now Project, Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose goal is to develop strategies and technologies to improve health quality and safety for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities (D/ID). She is the founding creator of the Right Care Now Project Health Support System. Dr. Abend is an internist and endocrinologist who has had more than 20 years of experience caring for adults and adolescents with D/ID. While at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical Center as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, Dr. Abend developed medical services for the UMass Neurodevelopmental Unit and the UMass Neurodevelopmental Outreach Team, and has authored multiple publications on healthcare for individuals with D/ID. Dr. Abend has served as Vice President of Quality and Medical Affairs for Johnson Memorial Health System in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, as Medical Director of Medistaff Inc., in Worcester, Massachusetts, and as the Executive Director of the Healthcare Quality Management Group in Framingham, Massachusetts. In 2013, Dr. Abend leveraged her executive experience in healthcare quality and information management to help improve the health and safety of her patients with D/ID. Working with members of the UMass Neurodevelopmental Outreach Team and partnering with eClinicalWorks, one of the largest electronic health record companies in the U.S, she organized a nonprofit organization, the Right Care Now Project (RCNP), to develop technologies and strategies that help people with D/ID communicate their health and safety needs to their caregivers and doctors, and help assure that they receive equitable care and services.