Partners in Success

UMASS MEDICAL SCHOOL INVESTS IN THE FUTURE OF THE CITY OF WORCESTER

On a late spring morning in the biotech lab at Worcester Technical High School, a spirited class discussion focuses on the remarkable places the students have been and on the places they are going.

Marleen Nunez, 17, spent her senior year of high school studying gene therapy in the lab of one of the world’s leading scientists in the field, Guangping Gao, PhD, the Penelope Booth Rockwell Professor in Biomedical Research and professor of microbiology & physiological systems at UMass Medical School in Worcester, where she earned a citation for research on a potential therapy for treatment-resistant high cholesterol.

“Dr. Gao’s lab made a huge difference for me,” said Nunez, who is now a freshman at UMass Amherst studying molecular biology and biochemistry. “At school, they teach you an overall, broad idea of many parts of science. In Dr. Gao’s lab, it is more intense and focused. Being so young and presenting to people who are older than me provided me with more confidence. Knowing that I can do that at this age, I can just imagine what I can do when I’m 20. I think I’m a step ahead.”

Worcester Technical High School graduates Michelle Haigbea (left) and Marleen Nunez say their internships at UMass Medical School helped prepare them for careers in science.

Michelle Haigbea, also 17, investigated new treatments for parasitic ringworm disease in the lab of Raffi Aroian, PhD, professor of molecular medicine at the medical school. The research holds deep meaning for her, as her Ghanaian parents came to America when they were 17 and still have close family in Africa, where the rate of parasitic infection is high. The disease, which affects 2 billion people worldwide in tropical and subtropical climates, stunts physical growth and brain development.

“I feel very blessed to have been able to work in Dr. Aroian’s lab because our work is potentially saving lives,” said Haigbea, who also participated in the High School Health Careers Program at the medical school, an initiative focused on preparing underrepresented students for biomedical research, biotech and health care careers. She is now a freshman at Holy Cross. “The average high school student is not given the chance to help another country. It’s a great opportunity for me and for them, as well.”

Robert Layne, assistant dean of outreach programs at UMass Medical School, is pictured with a recent High School Health Careers class. He says he is the “proudest papa” when students graduate from his programs and go on to excel in their studies.

“UMass Medical School has helped our program the most,” said Dr. vanderSpek, describing the impact of the relationships between scientists and students, along with an $875,000 donation from the medical school that equipped her classrooms with state-of-the-art lab equipment. “Working in a real lab helps our students experience the working environment and they realize they can do it. They’ve worked hard for it and they fit in. We get glowing recommendations when they’re done.”

Johanna vanderSpek, PhD, the biotech department chair at Worcester Tech, ticks off the names of students and graduates going great places this year, and a roster of scientists at UMass Medical School who helped them on their way, including William Theurkauf, PhD, professor of molecular medicine; Marian Walhout, PhD, the Maroun Semaan Chair in Biomedical Research and professor of molecular medicine; Christelle Anaclet, PhD, associate professor of neurobiology; and Michael Czech, PhD, the Isadore and Fannie Foxman Professor of Medical Research and professor of molecular medicine. Worcester Tech instructor Andrea Pereira, PhD, names three graduates thriving in college who interned with UMass Medical School’s Nobel Laureate Craig Mello: Tauny Tambolleo at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Jai Chavis at Brown University; and Isaac Quiles at Columbia University in New York.

From Worcester Tech to City Hall, the fruits of a 45-year partnership between UMass Medical School and the city of Worcester are evident. The medical school’s Office of Outreach Programs provides city students with an array of mentoring, job shadowing, internship, summer employment, laboratory research and after-school science programs. Charitable contributions from medical school employees and students are giving families access to laundry facilities in five city schools and a food pantry at North High School. Inside City Hall, the medical school provides funding to support the public health commissioner, who holds a faculty position at the medical school. The spirit of commitment extends across the community, as staff and students volunteer at dozens of organizations, from free medical clinics to refugee centers.

“Our partnership with the city of Worcester is important because the schools can’t do this alone,” said Robert Layne, MEd, the chief representative, liaison and connection to the Worcester school community in his role as assistant dean for outreach programs at the medical school. Layne is dedicated to motivating and preparing students from educationally and/or economically disadvantaged backgrounds and ethnic groups underrepresented in STEM professions for careers in the health sciences. “There are so many students falling through the cracks because the support mechanisms aren’t there for one reason or another. Together, we can make a difference.”

“By identifying where the needs of the city of Worcester overlap with the expertise and resources of UMass Medical School, we have been able to effectively serve our community and achieve our common mission of public service,” said Chancellor Michael F. Collins. “What began as a single program focused on the North Quadrant in the Worcester Public Schools has grown dramatically, because we keep finding new ways in which to engage with students and assist them at many different phases of their educational careers.

We couldn’t be prouder that this year, we again graduated a North High alum from our School of Medicine. By growing our engagement with the city, we are able to help students have success in the early years of their education, so they will be prepared for college and beyond. We want great Worcester students to populate our school because we know when they do, they have a desire to stay in the community and practice in the community.”

The story of the medical school’s partnership with the city of Worcester begins with its people. Of the 6,000 people employed by UMass Medical School, 5,000 work in Worcester; 1,200 live in the city. Those employees, as well as students, are generating more than $1 billion in economic activity, according to the UMass Donahue Institute.

“UMass Medical School is truly one of the cornerstones of Worcester’s economy,” said Mayor Joseph M. Petty. “The staff and students at the medical school are our homeowners and concert-goers and restaurant patrons. Just as the doctors, researchers and students at UMass are trailblazers to the next economy, they are active participants in our city’s resurgence. More than that, the doctors and staff are out in the community, working at free clinics, advising us on policy and working to make our city healthier.”

“We are incredibly fortunate to have a world-class research institution like UMass Medical School located within our city,” City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. “Consistently ranked as one of the leading medical schools in the nation, UMass attracts some of the brightest medical minds to Worcester and our entire city benefits from this high level of intellectual capital.”

Lisa Dyer, principal at North High in 2017, Worcester City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr., Chancellor Collins and Worcester School Superintendent Maureen Binienda, tour the food pantry.

Chancellor Michael F. Collins and Kola Akindele, assistant vice chancellor for city and community relations, announce the launch of the initiative in 2017.

That intellectual capital is an important and sustaining draw to new businesses and employers in the biotech field, both tiny startups and more established companies. When the owner of a research park adjacent to the medical school’s campus put the park up for sale in 2012 to focus on its properties in the Boston area, the medical school saw the opportunity and bought what is now called UMass Medicine Science Park in 2013. At the time of the purchase, vacancies were rising and the buildings were dated. The medical school, along with new and existing business tenants, invested nearly $5 million in upgrades and improvements. The Science Park is now 100 percent leased to a mix of startups and established biomedical companies, such as Fresenius Medical Care and Mustang Bio. In part because of the success of the Park, UMass Medical School paid more than $1 million in real estate taxes to the city in 2018, part of nearly $4 million in payments and fees for services to Worcester.

Like his counterparts at Worcester Tech, Amir Mitchell, PhD, assistant professor of molecular medicine in the Program in Systems Biology at UMass Medical School, is passionate about turning the next generation on to science. With the assistance of two graduate students in his lab, Serkan Sayin and Brittany Rosener, Dr. Mitchell collaborated with the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel to develop a unique outreach program that allows high school students at Worcester Tech, and around the world, to remotely operate a robotic arm in the Mitchell lab to create antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or “superbugs.”

“As a kid in high school, I wasn’t inspired by science,” said Mitchell. “I think it’s because, from the outside, people often don’t realize how exciting biology can be. Hopefully, we are opening a window to students that will allow them to realize science isn’t just mixing a few things in a tube. The science of the 21st century is technology driven — it’s robotics, it’s sequencing, it’s collaboration and open science.”

UMass Medical School scientist Amir Mitchell, PhD, (fourth from left), visits the biotech classroom at Worcester Technical High School with PhD students Serkan Sayin (third from left), and Brittany Rosener (fifth from right). Johanna vanderSpek, PhD, biotech chair at Worcester Tech, (fourth from right), says Dr. Mitchell and colleagues at UMMS are providing valuable insight into science careers for her students.

Mitchell’s lab works with more than 100 high school students a year in Worcester, Brockton, San Francisco and Israel. Students collaborate to evolve dozens of bacterial strains on various concentrations of antibiotics over several weeks. Worcester Tech student Wesley Kinyanjui said it was his first foray into conducting experiments in which there were no predetermined results. He aspires to a career in biomedical engineering, “developing medicines to help people,” he said.

“I think Dr. Mitchell’s program was a good experience because it got teenagers understanding what really goes on in a lab,” said Kinyanjui, who is in the biotechnology program.

Classmate Josephine Essuman said the experiment was an interesting example of science, because “you really have to think; you have to look at the data, think about what happened and then choose your next move.” The senior said she has wanted to be a doctor for as long as she can remember, inspired by the patient visits on which she accompanied her grandmother, a midwife.

“I have always wanted to care for people as a doctor, but now I’m discovering that research—finding the reason why something happened—is also compelling,” she said.

Dr. Theurkauf helped establish the Worcester Tech internship program.

“The internships are as important to the grad students at the medical school as they are to the high school students,” said Theurkauf. “The interns get first-hand experience in professional labs. Perhaps more importantly, interactions with the students and postdocs here can really expand horizons. The high school students see people not much older than they are pursuing PhDs and realize that they could do this. I’ve had interns come to the lab planning careers as research assistants who are now in college and planning on graduate or medical school.”

“For our students, postdocs and faculty, it’s a great opportunity to mentor bright, enthusiastic students, many of whom have had to overcome obstacles our students never considered. It’s always educational, and often inspiring.”

The longest-running partnership between the medical school and the city was founded more than 20 years ago, when the Worcester Pipeline Collaborative K–12 outreach initiative was launched to encourage underrepresented and disadvantaged students from the North Quadrant to pursue careers in biomedical research, biotech and the health care professions. Today, more than 6,500 Worcester Public School students participate in numerous programs. Structured activities include mentoring, job-shadowing, tutoring, clinical observation, research internships, after-school science programs, visiting scientist programs, a speaker’s bureau and family engagement. The Summer Enrichment Program for college students, the High School Health Careers Program and the pipeline are the largest initiatives in the Office of Outreach Programs.

“Through these activities, students learn to set high expectations for themselves, as they participate in rigorous K–12 mathematics and science lessons and develop language skills required to enter competitive collegiate programs,” Layne said. “Students also become academically prepared to pursue biomedical research, biotechnology and health careers in Massachusetts.”

Many students who have participated in these programs over the years now work at UMass Medical School or at clinical partner UMass Memorial Health Care, or have gone on to careers in medicine, nursing or biomedical science.

Marian Younge, MD, (left photo), and Kingsley Essien, PhD, (right photo) credit UMass Medical School's outreach programs in Worcester for helping propel their health and science careers.

Kingsley Essien, PhD, and Marian Younge, MD, both participated in outreach programs at the medical school, including the High School Health Careers program, and went on to graduate from the medical school last spring. Dr. Essien earned his PhD from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and is now working as a postdoc in the Department of Dermatology at the medical school. Essien’s siblings followed in his footsteps: his sisters, Clara and Gloria, and brother, Charles, took part in the medical school’s outreach and mentoring programs. They all went on to earn college degrees, according to Layne.

Dr. Younge entered the Worcester schools at age 10 when her family came to Worcester from Ghana. Now a resident at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez, Calif., the North High School graduate credits her involvement in the Worcester Pipeline for influencing her decision to pursue a career in medicine.

“As the oldest child and first person in my family to travel this path, I appreciated all the help I got from this program,” said Younge. “I had thought about a career in health care, but it wasn’t until I was exposed to clinicians through the pipeline that I was given a level of relatability that made it seem more tangible and real. It made a huge difference for me.”

The North Quadrant Support Services program was launched in 2017 to address some of the socioeconomic barriers to academic success. With the support of a grant from the medical school’s Remillard Community Service Fund and nearly $100,000 in donations from school employees and students, the North Quadrant Support Services program built and stocked a food pantry at North High School; installed washers and dryers in schools where students lacked access; and provided more than 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies to elementary school children. The program has also funded 60 classroom initiatives over two years, fulfilling teachers’ wishes for a wide variety of assistance, such as a new drama club for North High School this fall and new sensory materials and furniture for special needs students in one preschool teacher’s classroom at Belmont Street Community School.

In addition to supporting the North Quadrant Support Services, staff and students at the medical school give more than $100,000 a year in donations to support other nonprofit institutions in Worcester through a workplace campaign. They also volunteer their time at dozens of city organizations, such as the Dress for Success program that provides business attire for women heading into the workforce and the Worcester Free Clinic Coalition that cares for those who cannot get medical care elsewhere. Some of the largest city programs were started by students, such as the Worcester Refugee Assistance Project (WRAP), which was co-founded by Graduate School of Nursing alum Meredith Walsh, MS, MPH, RN, to assist local refugees from Burma achieve sustainable self-reliance through mentoring, advocacy and providing material support as needed.

Jessica Long, MD, SOM ’17, who credited the Health Sciences Preparatory Program for showing her the path to medical school, co-founded the Young Men of Today: Medical Professionals of Tomorrow program, in which young men of color in Worcester are supported in their pursuit to gain access to the field of medicine. Another initiative run by medical students at Worcester East Middle School is targeted toward young women interested in the health field.

For Layne and his colleagues in the Office of Outreach Programs, to witness medical school students and graduates mentoring young charges in the city is to feel their efforts have come full circle.

“I am the proudest papa when I run into our former students and they say ‘hello,’ and I see they have succeeded,” said Layne, who has been in his role for 24 years.

“UMass Medical School has grown in a number of significant ways since its founding,” said Chancellor Collins. “Importantly, the growth of our commitment to our community has kept pace. We are deeply involved in the educational and economic life of the city in many ways, which is as it should be: we are embedded in the success of the city.”

By Lisa Larson

@UMASSMED MAGAZINE