Joseph I. Berman, MD, MPH

Joseph I. Berman, MD, MPH, a founding member of the Board of Directors of Advocates for the Aging of Frederick County, passed away on Saturday, December 23rd, 2023, at the age of eighty-eight.

A graduate of the Boston Latin School, Joe went on to obtain his bachelor’s degree at Clark University, his medical degree at Tufts University, his Master’s in Public Health from John Hopkins University and a Master’s in Liberal Arts in 2005 from Johns Hopkins University.

Upon completion of his medical internship and residency in Baltimore, Joe served as an Army physician in Toul, France, before beginning his career at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. He eventually served as Sinia’s Chief of Community Medicine and the Director of Emergency and Ambulatory Services, while also serving as the Medical Director at the Levindale Hebrew Home and Hospital.

In 1980, Joe followed his work at Sinai with a position as the Deputy Secretary for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, with an emphasis on local health services and health regulation.  He later served as Vice President for Medical Affairs at Wyman Park (MD), President of FreeState Health Plan (MD), and Chief Medical Officer at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (OH).

Throughout his career, Joe was an advocate for the disadvantaged and the elderly. In 2000 he assumed the position of Medical Director for The Office of Health Care Quality (MD) where he was responsible for reviewing quality of care complaints in Maryland HMOs, hospitals, and nursing homes. He also led the effort to enact regulations for Medical Directors and for infection control in long term care facilities. Joe’s final job brought him back to direct patient care as a physician at Frederick Health’s Wound Center.

Joe was very passionate about public health and traveled the world treating people in underdeveloped countries while helping build medical systems to assist those in need. Locally, Joe was actively involved in the successful effort to prevent the county from selling Citizens Care & Rehabilitation Center and the closure of Montevue Assisted Living in 2012. He was then a founding member of the Advocates for Aging Board of Directors and a strong supporter of the Frederick County Health Department’s Adult Evaluation & Review Services (AERS) program.

Joe had an adventurous spirit, boundless curiosity, and was never idle. He supported local theater where he helped bring Shakespeare events to the local community, and he was a docent at the Civil War Medical Museum in Frederick where he proudly donned his Civil War Medical uniform and gave tours and speeches about the medical problems soldiers encountered during the war.