Leadership Team

Dr. Scott Kopec was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and graduated college from Boston University.  He then graduated from Rush Medical School in Chicago in 1989, and after completing his Internal Medicine Internship at Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1990, he served as the Medical Office on the USS Nashville during Operation Desert Storm.  Upon completion of his military service, Dr. Kopec joined the UMass family to complete his Internal Medicine residency, followed by a Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship.  In 1997 he joined the UMass faculty, and following his dream of being a teacher, he joined the Internal Medicine Residency Program as an Associate Program Director in 2003.  In 2009 Dr. Kopec added the duties of the Program Director for the Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship. After serving as an Associate Program Director for fifteen years, Dr. Kopec took over as the Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program.  Scott likes spending time outdoors hiking, fly fishing, running, snow shoeing, cross country and downhill skiing, and doing nature photography.  He especially likes spending time with his wife and 3 daughters at their camp on Moosehead Lake in northern Maine.

Dr. Murphy is a lifelong Massachusetts resident. She graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA as a Psychology/Pre-Med Major. She received her Medical Degree from Boston University School of Medicine. In 1995, she arrived at UMass for her internship and has not left. She completed her residency and Chief Residency here and developed her interest in and love for teaching. In 1999, she joined the Division of General Internal Medicine, where she continues to practice and precept in the Benedict Adult Primary Care Clinic. Dr. Murphy has been involved in ambulatory education since finishing her residency. She completed the inaugural UMass Quality Scholars Faculty Development program in 2009 and developed a robust QI curriculum and training program for our IM residents. In 2014, she became an Associate Program Director for Ambulatory Training in the Internal Medicine residency program and implemented the 4+1 scheduling/residency learning community structure we have today. In 2019, she achieved her career dream when she was asked to create and lead a new Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency at UMass! She is an avid sports and musical theater fan. She treasures time with her husband and two sons, traveling, and relaxing on Lake Winnisquam, NH with family and friends.

Dr. Donahue grew up in Lynn, MA and got her undergraduate degree in Biology and Religion at Williams College. She volunteered in a health clinic in Tamil Nadu before attending University of Massachusetts for medical school and residency. After serving a year as chief resident, she joined the Division of General Medicine for two years as a primary care physician. She then began work as a nocturnist with the Division of Hospital Medicine before transitioning to more daytime roles. Her interests include perioperative medicine and anticoagulation, as well as diagnostic reasoning and evidence-based learning strategies.  She was honored to be asked to join the Internal Medicine residency as an Associate Program Director in 2019, and is affiliated with Quinsigamond Firm as she gets the most joy out of working with learners at all stages of their education. Outside of the hospital Dr. Donahue likes travel, music, Zumba, and spending time with her resource-guarding dog as well as the rest of her family.

Dr. Nancy Lee grew up in Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston, as a child of immigrants from Taiwan and Vietnam. She attended Boston University for her undergraduate degree in Biology and worked in a research lab studying Tuberous Sclerosis and LAM at Brigham and Women’s while also working as a hospice volunteer. From here she went to UMass Chan Medical School and the Internal Medicine residency program where she served as a Chief Resident, before joining the Division of Hospital Medicine as a hospitalist. As one of many UMass “lifers”, Dr. Lee is passionate about maintaining the inclusive and nurturing culture that UMass is known for. She has served as the Physician Director for 7 East as part of the UMass Acute Care Unit Collaborative and is the Director of the Hospital Medicine Advanced Practice Provider Service. Her areas of interest include medical education, mentoring trainees at all levels of training, end-of-life care/ palliative medicine, transitions of care, clinician wellness, social equity and inclusion. Outside of the hospital, Dr. Lee enjoys exploring new places and new foods/cuisines with her wife and family.

Dr. Jonathan Min comes from a family of physicians, including his older sister and both parents. He was born and raised outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and played the cello in various youth orchestras before discovering his love of string quartets and chamber music while attending Amherst College. He then worked in a virology research lab under Priscilla Schaffer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He attended UMass Chan Medical School and in his words is now a UMass “lifer”. He stayed at UMass for his internal medicine residency and remained for another year as a chief resident, before assuming his current role as assistant professor and academic hospitalist. In addition to remaining active in the medicine residency, he completed his quality improvement LEAN green belt training in 2019, focusing on multidisciplinary rounds and geographic cohorting. He serves as a house specialty advisor for Burncoat House for the medical school and started as a Master Clinician Educator for Quinsigamond House for the internal medicine residency in July 2021. Dr. Min is excited to work closely with the internal medicine residency, particularly with the chief residents and looks forward to continuing his role as a mentor to residents, interns, and students. In his free time, he enjoys visiting his sister in California, his parents in Pennsylvania, being an uncle to his two nephews and niece, practicing (relearning) the cello, and taking his resident teams out to dinner. 

Dr. Niemi grew up in a Boston suburb before attending Georgetown University for his undergraduate degree in Psychology.  He worked as a study coordinator at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston for two years prior to obtaining his medical degree at Tufts University. He subsequently completed his Internal Medicine residency and Nephrology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He joined the Renal Medicine faculty at UMass Chan Medical School in 2014, and since then has participated in the education of medical students, residents, and nephrology fellows while maintaining a busy inpatient and ambulatory clinical practice focused on patients with all forms of kidney disease.  His particular clinical interests are in diabetic kidney disease and living kidney donation. He received an amazing education during his residency years and is excited to pay it forward to the UMass Internal Medicine Residency program, through the Kelley firm MCE role that he assumed in 2023.

He is grateful for a healthy and loving wife, three children, and a dog, with whom he spends as much time as possible when he’s not in the hospital. He enjoys summer vacations in Narragansett and Cape Cod, playing/watching live music, and spending time outdoors.

Dr. Poisson Irani grew up in Narragansett, RI, and spent most of her young life either on a beach or playing competitive soccer. She earned her undergraduate degree in Biology and French at Bucknell University. She attended Drexel University College of Medicine (go Dragons!) before starting residency at UMass. She served as a Chief Resident at UMass before transitioning to the Division of Hospital Medicine as a hospitalist. She also serves as a Physician Adviser for Care Coordination. Her clinical interests include feedback and evaluation, microgoals/SMART goals as well as interprofessional education. Dr. Poisson Irani is the Associate Program Director and is affiliated with Kelley Firm. She is a strong believer in medicine as a team sport and the non-hierarchical culture of UMass. She takes particular joy in helping learners at all levels succeed and leveraging the wisdom of the interprofessional care team in caring for her patients. When not at work, she enjoys adventures with her husband and two sons. She loves spending time with family in Hershey, PA, as well as beach days in her hometown.

Dr. Bagga earned her MBBS from Government Medical College in Patiala, Punjab, India. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at SUNY Buffalo. After finishing her training, she practiced as an internist at Reliant Medical Group in Leominster, Massachusetts. In 2007, Dr. Bagga joined UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health as a faculty member and practicing physician. She continues to provide care in the ambulatory setting. Since 2021, she has served as the course director for medical student rotations at Benedict Primary Care Clinic. In 2023, she became the CME Director for the weekly Primary Care Series hosted by the Department of Medicine. Dr. Bagga also serves as the Associate Program Director for Ambulatory Training in the Internal Medicine Residency Program.

Dr. Veerreddy was born and grew up in India. After graduating medical school from Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad, India, he moved to the United States in 2000 to pursue Master’s in Public Health at University of North Texas Health Science Center, FortWorth. After earning his MPH, he moved to Boston, MA to start his residency training in Internal Medicine at North Shore Medical Center, Partners Healthcare. He became a Chief Resident, during which he discovered his passion for medical education. He subsequently pursued a career in Academic Hospital Medicine and joined the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 2006. His desire to be a Generalist at heart and passion for acuity has taken him to specialize in Acute Medical Care, and he currently practices as an Academic Hospitalist at UMass Memorial Medical Center. His clinical interests are in POCUS in Internal Medicine, End-of Life care, EBM, and Peri-Operative Medicine. Dr. Veerreddy is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Chan Center. His penchants for medical education led to his appointment as a Master Clinical Educator (MCE) with the Kelley Firm and a Associate Program Director (APD) of Burncoat Firm (2022) of Internal Medicine Residency Program, UMass Chan Medical School since 2012. Over the course of his career he has mentored and nurtured numerous resident physicians. He was subsequently also appointed as a Learning Community Mentor (LCM) for Burncoat House at UMass Memorial Medical School in 2021 and enjoys the same mentoring role with UMass Chan medical students. He always likes to say, "The day you stop learning, is the day you hang up your white coat to retire."

He is blessed with a loving family of wife and two daughters and loves spending time with them. He likes to play chess, tennis and cricket; has a passion for gardening; loves traveling and photography.

Dr. Yazdani grew up in lower New York State and came up to Boston University for his undergraduate education. At BU, he stayed on for his masters in medical sciences and then attended BU medical school.  He left Boston for his residency in internal medicine at University of Massachusetts. While working as an in-house doctor/intensivist at Deaconess Waltham hospital, an opportunity came up to return to University of Massachusetts as one of the initial hospitalists on staff. He has been in the Division of Hospital Medicine ever since. Dr. Yazdani has focused his career on medical education and working with learners at all levels of training.  He is the director of the 4th year sub-internship in medicine and is co-director of medical consult services along with being the Sub-I director (aka Acting Internship Director). His clinical interests include peri-operative medicine, POCUS (point of care ultrasound) and end-of-life care/palliative medicine. Outside of the hospital, he enjoys spending time with his family and dog as well as getting into trouble working on various home improvement projects.