About Jay

As a small business owner for over 20 years, Dr. Jay Fleitman is dedicated to his family, community, and medical practice. Dr. Fleitman is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, and he is one of only 1,375 board certified physicians in sleep medicine in the United States.

He was the youngest of 3 children of Pearl and Irving Fleitman – first generation Americans who grew up poor in the New York Jewish ghettos during the depression, Dr. Fleitman watched his father work 2 and sometimes 3 jobs to support his family and own his own home. His parents stressed the importance of education, hard work and service to community.

Taking these lessons to heart, Dr. Fleitman has been an active force in the community of Northampton, Massachusetts. In addition to his 20 year practice in Northampton, Dr. Fleitman:

• Is the immediate past president of the medical staff and member of the board of trustees of the Cooley Dickinson Hospital;
• Was the medical director of 2 different medical plans;
• Was the medical director of respiratory therapy and pulmonary rehabilitation at the Cooley Dickinson Hospital;
• Was the medical director of the ICU and Medical Director of Inpatient Services at the Cooley Dickinson Hospital;
• Is on staff at the Baystate Mary Lane Hospital, and is the medical director of their sleep lab. 
• Was the county representative to the Mass Medical Society legislative committee for 6 years;
• Was the founder and first president of our Physician Hospital Organization (PHO) - a non-profit corporation designed to organize community medical care and to respond to changes and developments in healthcare.

In the mid-1990s, Dr. Fleitman was elected to the School Committee of the City of Northampton.  Dr. Fleitman is the current chair of the Board of Health of the City of Northampton.  He is the ward chair for the Republican Party in Northampton, and his wife, Mary Lou, is the vice-chair.

Jay met his wife, Mary Lou Stuart, during his residency while she was doing her residency in dentistry at the same institution.  She grew up in Springfield, IL, and went to college at Northwestern University outside of Chicago.  Jay and Mary Lou were married in 1983 and have two children, Jessica and Zachary.

Jay coached both soccer and basketball for each of his children. He and Mary Lou volunteered in their elementary school. Jessica graduated from Princeton in chemistry, currently teaches chemistry and physics in an inner city school in Houston, TX, and will be going to medical school next year. Zachary is a senior at Northwestern University in Economics and Mathematical Modeling. 

Dr. Fleitman graduated from Brown University in 1974 with a degree in Psychology. After Brown, Dr. Fleitman worked as a psychiatric aide in the maximum security ward of McLean’s Hospital outside of Boston and went to medical school at State University of New York at Stony Brook.  Dr. Fleitman did his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Long Island Jewish Hospital/Queens Medical Center, followed by specialty training in Pulmonary Diseases at Montefiore Hospital / Albert Einstein Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. 

Dr. Fleitman lives in Northampton, MA with his wife, Mary Lou, who is the dental director of the Hilltown Community Health Center.