Marylou Sudders (’78)

As current Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Sudders leads the largest executive agency in our state government, presiding over MA public health, welfare and care.

Updated October 2018 — BUSSW alumna Marylou Sudders, a fierce advocate for so many who don’t have a voice, received Boston University’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2018. As current Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Sudders leads the largest executive agency in our state government, presiding over MA public health, welfare and care. 

Watch Marylou Sudders’ Distinguished Alumni Awards Presentation here.

Marylou Sudders on improving health care access as the secretary of the MA Department of Health and Human Services

“If somebody had said to me in 1976 when I entered the School of Social Work that I might be a public official, a commissioner of mental health, and a cabinet secretary for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, I would have said ‘I don’t think so,’” Marylou Sudders says. “But what I’ve always said to students about social work is it opens any door that you want to run through. There is no greater education than a social work education to open up a wealth of opportunities for us.”

Since earning her MSW in 1978, Marylou Sudders has championed health care access, including significant legislative reforms involving insurance parity, fundamental patient rights, and children’s mental health.

For almost ten years, she led the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, working for the rights and well-being of around 24,000 children and families. She has also been an associate professor and chair of Health and Mental Health at Boston College’s Graduate School of Social Work, and continues her time there as a visiting professor.

In January 2015, Sudders was appointed secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services by Governor Charlie Baker, following her time on the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. In her role as secretary of Health and Human Services, Sudders leads the largest executive agency in state government, with a $21 billion state budget and 22,000 dedicated public servants to get the job done.