UConn Health

September 7, 2023 | Lauren Woods - Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine

Dr. Thomas Agresta is New Chair of Family Medicine at UConn Health

“I am excited to have the opportunity to lead the Family Medicine department in a time of rapid change in medicine," says Agresta who has served on the School of Medicine faculty for 28 years.

Thomas Agresta, MD, MBI, is the new chair of the Department of Family Medicine at UConn Health. (Tina Encarnacion/UConn Health Photo)

Dr. Thomas Agresta has been named chair of the Department of Family Medicine at UConn Health and its UConn School of Medicine after serving successfully in the interim department chair role.

Dr. Thomas Agresta (Tina Encarnacion/UConn Health Photo)

Agresta is board certified in both family medicine and clinical informatics (CI). He has been a member of the School of Medicine faculty since 1995. After successfully completing his UConn/St. Francis Family Medicine residency training program in 1993, he joined the School of Medicine’s full-time faculty two years later.

“We welcome Tom to his new role as chair of Family Medicine at UConn Health, and his vision to expand the Department of Family Medicine and to effectively use and study technology tools to aid primary care physicians in best serving their patients,” says UConn School of Medicine Dean and UConn Health Interim CEO Dr. Bruce T. Liang.

He earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) which is now part of Rutgers, and received his undergraduate degree from Stevens Institute of Technology in Biomedical Engineering. Agresta also holds a master’s degree in Biomedical Informatics (MBI) from Oregon Health Sciences University.

His expertise in CI has translated into a number of regional and national opportunities to help shape this emerging field, including serving in leadership roles to provide advice to numerous state agencies regarding creation and optimization of an official state health information Exchange (HIE), as well as helping to establish the discipline of CI by sitting on the CI sub-board of the American Board of Preventive Medicine and creating the certifying exam for the field.

Agresta is interested in innovative ways to foster “high-tech, high-touch” primary care and has been a principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of grants and contracts with federal and state agencies, foundations, non-profits, and companies, focused on the effective use of technology in medicine and education. He collaborates broadly with colleagues from medicine, computer science, pharmacy, nursing, and others across UConn and nationally. He also has authored publications and presentations across these disciplines.

Interestingly, Agresta served as the Informatics Lead for the Connecticut Institute for Primary Care Innovation and worked with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to create an interactive, futuristic, and hands-on museum-like display called the Office of the Future which was visited by a national audience of thousands of family medicine physicians over several years.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to lead the Family Medicine department in a time of rapid change in medicine, when effective use of technology has the potential to improve the capacity of primary care physicians, while enhancing the care of patients, and also reducing their stress and risks of burnout. I look forward to working with a wide range of leaders at UConn and regionally to increase the family medicine workforce and improve access to high-quality, accessible and ‘high-tech, high-touch’ primary care,” says Agresta.