@umasschan magazine fall 2022

Reflecting on a work in progress

UMass Chan Medical School is the commonwealth’s first and only public academic health sciences center, home to three graduate schools. Our mission is to advance the health and wellness of our diverse communities throughout Massachusetts and across the world by leading and innovating in education, research, health care delivery and public service.

Commencement returns to campus

The annual commencement celebration returned to the UMass Chan Medical School campus in Worcester on Sunday, June 5, for the first time in three years. Chancellor Michael F. Collins presided over the 49th Commencement, which was held on the campus green with faculty, family and friends in attendance.

“I am pleased to be the first to officially salute the classes of 2022, who are the very first to be graduating from the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the T.H. Chan School of Medicine,” said Chancellor Collins, referencing the name changes to the schools subsequent to last year’s transformational $175 million gift from the Morningside Foundation

of the Chan family. “Graduates in the classes of 2022 are known for their outstanding academic accomplishments, as well as their extraordinary commitment to reaching beyond the borders of the campus to work with and to help others. We applaud you as you prepare to take your rightful place in our city, our commonwealth, our nation and our world as graduates of Massachusetts’ first—and only— great public medical school.”

Honorary degrees were awarded to Paula A. Johnson, MD, MPH, president of Wellesley College and a preeminent cardiologist, scientist and educator; James O’Connell, MD, MTheol, president of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, where his commitment to caring for homeless individuals earned him a reputation as the city’s

“street doctor”; and Cori Bargmann, PhD, former head of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, and the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor at The Rockefeller University.

Dr. Bargmann delivered the commencement address, urging graduates to use their voices to be champions of truth.

“You have a critical role as agents of truth. You’ve seen how science and medicine can be manipulated or denied. Your task is to help build a world where truth matters,” Bargmann said. “Why? Because when it comes to the perception of science and medicine, change only comes from engagement with a human being whom you trust.”

You have a critical role as agents of truth. You’ve seen how science and medicine can be manipulated or denied. Your task is to help build a world where truth matters.

CORI BARGMANN, P h D

Opposite:

T.H. Chan School of Medicine graduates

Bronwyn Wada-Gill, Alexander Kaplan, Prithwijit Roychowdhury, Wanlu Xu and Jessica Ma pause for a photo before they head to the tent.

Clockwise from top left:

James O’Connell accepts his honorary degree from Chancellor Collins.

Nursing graduate Nancy Figuereo smiles as she listens to the commencement speaker.

Cori Bargmann, in her address, urged the graduates to be agents of truth as they pursue their health care and science careers.

Nursing students Rachel Burke, Daniela Carrasco and Jeffrey Chhim applaud their class speaker.

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FAITH NINIVAGGI

CHRIS EVANS

CHRIS EVANS

Topping off ceremony marks construction milestone

Aceremonial steel beam marking the “topping off” of the new education and research building under construction on the Worcester campus of UMass Chan Medical School was lifted into place on Aug. 22, signaling completion of the steel skeleton of the building. The nine-story, 350,000 square-foot building, which sits at the center of the campus between the Aaron Lazare

Research Building and the Albert Sherman Center, will include research space for more than 70 principal investigators and increase educational and conference space to support the missions of the three graduate schools.

Designed to achieve LEED Gold certification for energy efficiency and sustainability, the building is expected to open in 2024. ■

April 2021: Part of a parking garage was removed to accommodate the new building.

March 2022: The foundation of the nine-story building is completed.

August 2022: A ceremonial beam is placed to signify completion of the building’s skeleton.

July 2022: As steel beams are placed, the outline of the building comes into focus.

KEVIN HARKINS

Enough to stretch from the UMass Chan campus to Washington, D.C.

Heated and cooled by a geothermal system

50% of building cooling from geothermal

88% of building heating from geothermal

Mary Ahn links systems of care to help individuals realize their potential

Faculty affairs leader and child psychiatrist brings dual careers together

By Sandra Gray

In her role as vice provost for faculty affairs, Mary Ahn, MD, is finding that many of the skills she uses as a psychiatrist are applicable to faculty development.

Just as the child and adolescent psychiatrist coordinates care for young patients, Dr. Ahn, professor of psychiatry, coordinates resources, systems and supports through the Office of Faculty Affairs to help faculty members thrive and achieve their professional and personal goals.

“What I love about being a child psychiatrist is that you not only work with the child, but you work collaboratively with the family and all of the supports available for that child,” said Ahn. “In faculty affairs, there are so many areas of support that are likewise systemic.”

Board certified in psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, Ahn earned her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, followed by residency and fellowship training at McLean and Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

After joining UMass Chan in 2009, Ahn assumed increasing responsibilities in training, education and faculty professional development roles, including as vice chair for academic affairs and career development and director of the Career Development and Research Office in the Department of Psychiatry; advisor to the Junior Faculty Development Program; and a coach in the Office of the Chief Experience Officer. She has earned certification from the International Coaching Federation credentialing program for coach practitioners. This career evolution culminated in her appointment as vice provost for faculty affairs in May 2021.

Ahn was born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. with her family at age 2. She knew from early childhood that she wanted to be a pediatrician or a psychiatrist. “I think because acquiring the English language was a bit easier for me than it was for my parents, at an early age I often found myself being the spokesperson and I had to be comfortable advocating for myself and mediating discussions.”

These skills serve Ahn well as she oversees all aspects of faculty administration, including faculty appointments, promotion, tenure and post-tenure review, and professional development.

“Our goal is to tailor advice and direction to the faculty member. What is their passion? Where do they want to go? What tools do they need?” she said. “We can then curate the best of what's already being offered or what we can develop. Being in faculty affairs gives me the opportunity to sit at the table to develop policies and procedures that help faculty from a systemic and structural perspective.”

Shaped by her own experiences as an immigrant and woman in medicine, Ahn finds helping colleagues integrate personal and professional goals integral to her work. “My personal life and my home life are just as important to my identity as being a physician and an academic leader,” she said. “I want UMass Chan to be the place to not just work but also to be a person. And I want faculty to know UMass Chan cares about them.”

“I want UMass Chan to be the place to not just work but also to be a person. And I want faculty to know UMass Chan cares about them.”

MARY AHN, P h D

Donna and Robert Manning donate $5 million to UMass Chan to establish endowed chairs

Acouple with longtime ties to the UMass system and the first in their families to go to college, Donna and Robert Manning made an extraordinary $5 million gift to UMass Chan Medical School in April that facilitates the recruitment, recognition and retention of faculty members.

Robert Manning is the chair of the UMass Board of Trustees who retired this year from Boston mutual fund company MFS Investment Management, where he spent his 37-year career, rising to the role of executive chair. Donna Manning retired in 2018 after a 35-year career as an oncology nurse at Boston Medical Center. Both are UMass Lowell graduates; Robert Manning has an information systems management degree; Donna Manning holds both a nursing degree and an MBA.

The Mannings’ $5 million gift endows Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chairs in neurosciences, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, nursing, and biomedical sciences.

“We made the gift to the Medical School because we believe it’s one of the best schools in the world,” the Mannings said. “We love

the research and clinical mission and want to support the great people and culture that make the school special.”

Chancellor Michael F. Collins said endowed chairs are among the most important and impactful assets an institution has to attract and retain high-caliber faculty.

“Through the wonderful generosity of the Mannings, we will be able to support and invest in stellar faculty colleagues across the schools. The impact will be tangible and substantial for years to come,” Chancellor Collins said.

“With this exemplary gift, Rob and Donna Manning are advancing the transformational work of world-class faculty members at our medical school,” UMass President Marty Meehan said. “Combined with their generous contributions across our campuses, the Mannings are sending a powerful message that the University of Massachusetts is deserving of support.”

Last year, the couple made a $50 million gift to the UMass system—the largest in the university’s history at that time. The gift is aimed at increasing access and opportunity across the five campuses.

The following were named the inaugural recipients:

• Robert H. Brown Jr., DPhil, MD, professor of neurology and director of the Neurotherapeutics Institute, for the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Neurosciences ;

• Mary Ellen Lane, PhD, professor of neurobiology and dean of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, for the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Biomedical Sciences ;

• Tiffany A. Moore Simas, MD, MPH, MEd, chair and professor of obstetrics & gynecology and professor of pediatrics, psychiatry and population & quantitative health sciences, for the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology ;

• Michael P. Stauff, MD, associate professor of orthopedics & physical rehabilitation and vice chair for clinical practice in the Department of Orthopedics & Physical Rehabilitation, for the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Orthopedics ; and

• Joan M. Vitello-Cicciu, PhD, professor of nursing and dean of the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, for the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Nursing.

At a special investiture ceremony held in June, Rob Manning said to the new Manning chairs, “You have given us a gift. We fundamentally believe the only thing that matters in life is what you do to help others; the only thing that matters is how you impact others. Not the trophies, the titles, the money, all the other material things. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is how you impacted others and you all do that every single day here. It is part of your ethos, your life.”

Endowed chairs named

The following UMass Chan faculty in rheumatology, biochemistry & molecular biotechnology and cancer biology are supported by endowments approved by the UMass Board of Trustees during the 2021-2022 academic year.

• Roberto Caricchio, MD, a nationally recognized expert on lupus who began at UMass Chan on June 30 as professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Medicine, is the Myles J. McDonough Chair in Rheumatology

• Michelle A. Kelliher, PhD, professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology and co-leader of the Cancer Genetics Program, is the inaugural recipient of the Our Danny Cancer Fund Chair in Biomedical Research I. The UMass Board of Trustees established the endowed chair in September 2021 to support the work of a stellar faculty member whose research programs help to advance understanding of cancer biology or facilitate novel cancer therapeutics.

• Celia A. Schiffer, PhD, chair and professor of biochemistry & molecular biotechnology, is the new Arthur F. and Helen P. Koskinas Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology. Dr. Schiffer’s lab focuses on drug resistance.

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“We fundamentally believe the only thing that matters in life is what you do to help others; the only thing that matters is how you impact others.”

ROBERT MANNING

Robert Brown Jr., DPhil, MD; Joan Vitello-Cicciu, PhD; Tiffany Moore Simas, MD, MPH, MEd; Mary Ellen Lane, PhD; and Michael Stauff, MD; are the newly endowed Manning Chairs.

Nursing residencies strengthen practice

New nurse practitioners benefit from continued training as they transition into professional practice

Nurse practitioners are primary health care providers for increasing numbers of patients. They undergo years of rigorous training before entering practice, as do physicians. And now, like physicians, newly graduated advanced practice nurses can engage in further on-the-job training as residents. The Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing at UMass Chan Medical School has launched a family nurse practitioner residency program in partnership with community health centers across Massachusetts with federal funding. A fellowship for psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners in the same settings was also launched this year with state funding.

“The value of a residency is the mentor support and the time a resident has to come up to speed to care for a diverse community health center population with multiple needs,” said Jill Terrien, PhD, ANP-BC, associate professor of nursing and medicine, and principal investigator for the Massachusetts Community Health Nurse Practitioner Residency Partnership. “When they get a deeper look into the population they’re serving, and the many resources available in the community health center, nurse practitioners are more apt to stay at that center where they are critically needed.”

The family nurse practitioner residency partnership was established at five sites with a four-year, $3 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. The

By Sandra Gray

psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner fellowship is supported through the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.

Building on the model developed in 2009 by Family Health Center in Worcester, the 12-month, full-time residency prepares family nurse practitioners to provide comprehensive primary care. The residency is open to recent graduates with Master of Nursing or Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees from accredited programs nationwide.

Sites include the Family Health Center and the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center in Worcester, the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, Harbor Health Services in Boston, and Baystate High Street Health Center in Springfield. Also collaborating is the T.H. Chan School of Medicine Department of Family Medicine & Community Health. Unique to this program is the interprofessional education and collaborative practice model integrating primary care nurse practitioner and physician residents in teaching and practice.

“I am a better clinician because of this program,” said Heather Patrick, DNP’20, FNP-C, who in 2021 completed the residency at the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, where she continues to practice. “During clinical sessions we were precepted by a nurse practitioner who dedicated their time to us so we could consult with them as needed. Once a week we had

Family nurse practitioners Heather Patrick, DNP’20, FNP-C, (left) and Amaryllis Teixeira, MS’08, FNP, at the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center.

didactic sessions, basically four hours of paid learning, which is an exceptional opportunity.”

UMass Chan nursing and family medicine & community health faculty and partner sites develop and deliver the didactic sessions in consultation with staff at the sites, including residency directors Amaryllis Teixeira, MS’08, FNP, at the EMK Community Health Center, and Kyla Biegun, MS’12, FNP-BC, at the Codman Square Health Center.

psychiatric nurse practitioner fellowships due to a significant workforce shortage. By integrating fellowship programs into community health centers, access to behavioral health services for medically underserved populations is improved. Recent research indicates that nurse practitioner graduates of postgraduate training programs remain in primary care and underserved practices at higher rates compared with national averages.

“The UMass Chan faculty have been instrumental in making the program what it is today,” said Teixeira. “We’ve also introduced case studies to allow the residents to bring difficult cases and offer different clinical insights.”

Another goal of the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing nurse practitioner residency and fellowship is to encourage practitioners to serve as future clinical educators for nursing school students and graduates.

“The program elevates not just the resident participants but the preceptors,” said Biegun. “In the process of teaching you realize how much you have to share.”

“Something that was very important to me was seeing how other people do things,” agreed Marta Escriu-Suñé, DNP’20, FNP-BC, who completed her residency at Codman Square. “It was good to be able to share concerns about patients that I was worried about with more experienced providers, especially while transitioning into practice during the COVID pandemic.”

Nurse practitioner residencies are an increasingly recognized approach to easing the national shortage of health care workers, especially primary care providers in underserved communities. There is a growing interest in

The new psychiatric nurse practitioner fellowship, with didactic training under the direction of Mechelle Plasse, PhD, APRN, assistant professor of nursing and psychiatry, is based on the same model as the family nurse practitioner residency. Psychiatric nurse practitioner fellows are currently in training at Lowell Community Health Center and East Boston Neighborhood Health Center.

A collaboration of the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, the fellowship will provide protected time for enrichment, including certification to prescribe medication-assisted treatment for patients with opioid use disorder; simulations; didactic sessions on application of psychotherapy appropriate to the setting; evidence-based psychopharmacology and professional socialization to the role; group supervision from behavioral health fellows from the UMass Chan Department of Family Medicine & Community Health’s Primary Care Psychology and Medical Education Fellowship; and participation in the UMass Chan Department of Psychiatry grand rounds. ■

“The value of a residency is the mentor support and the time a resident has to come up to speed to care for a diverse community health center population with multiple needs.”

JILL TERRIEN, P h D

FAITH NINIVAGGI

The science of images

Imaging scientists drive standards, provide tools to advance research

By Susan E.W. Spencer

At its core, science is about the possibility of translating data into discoveries. But throughout this process, it’s crucial to keep track of what the data mean.

UMass Chan Medical School researchers Caterina Strambio-De-Castillia, PhD, and David Grunwald, PhD, are among a growing cadre of imaging scientists who are developing pathways to turn data into discoveries. They are synchronizing the power of quantitative digital microscopy and research data management to advance science as a whole.

This work takes them from individual laboratories striving to make sense of groundbreaking—but huge—datasets to international communities of bioimaging scientists, microscope manufacturers and facility managers, in a quest to develop uniform standards. The goal? Imaging data that can be shared and important scientific findings that can be reproduced and validated.

David Grunwald, PhD, and Caterina Strambio-De-Castillia, PhD, describe themselves as occupying an in-between space, acting as a bridge between disciplines. Dr. Grunwald’s focus on microscopy hardware dovetails with the software analysis championed by Dr. Strambio-De-Castillia.

“Right now, unfortunately, because of the complexity of image data,” Dr. StrambioDe-Castillia, assistant professor of molecular medicine and a cell biologist by training, said, “scientists are publishing quantitative results— the numbers—but it is hard to connect those results with the often-stunning images that are behind them.”

The foundation for the use of magnification as an observation and measurement tool for modern science goes back centuries. Scientists first had to be talented visual artists to capture what they saw by drawing in notebooks. Over time, cameras captured images of what could be seen through a typical light microscope and later, in advanced imaging technologies like electron microscopy. More recently, the digital revolution turned analog images—those captured on film—into electronic data.

But when it comes to sharing data captured in images, things have not improved much, explained Strambio-De-Castillia. But, with funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), she is working to change that.

The CZI, among its many goals, supports technological development for research tools in the life sciences because “better tools make every scientist a better scientist,” said former CZI head of science Cori Bargmann, PhD, in her commencement address to UMass Chan graduates earlier this year. Strambio-De-Castillia is passionately interested in finding those better tools.

Digging deeper in visual data

Over the years, optical tools such as electron microscopy and x-ray crystallography have become much more complex and the images they produce contain volumes more information, all of it gathered and stored digitally.

As scientists drilled further down into the molecular details of cellular functions over the past half century, it became important to know how the information gleaned could be integrated into a broader understanding of biological systems.

“Researchers are no longer just looking at all the DNA in the nucleus, all of the RNA, all of the proteins,” Strambio-De-Castillia said. “Scientists are understanding how all of these individual components work together, how they are dynamically organized in three dimensions and move over time.”

Similarly, Dr. Grunwald sees the underlying data to be critical to understanding—and reproducing—the science. Grunwald, associate professor of RNA therapeutics, considers his role akin to “a science concierge.” A biophysicist with a lengthy résumé of other skills, he is an expert in microscopes and how scientific images can tell a story. So, he does a typical hotel concierge one better. “I don’t secure a table,” he said, for a diner seeking a difficult reservation, “I create the table. It is an uncharted area, so it requires an exploration guide.”

Both Grunwald and Strambio-De-Castillia describe themselves as occupying an inbetween space, acting as a bridge between disciplines. And both agree their mission is to make science better.

ABOVE In addition to being a cell biologist, Strambio-De-Castillia incorporates computer science expertise into her work.

RIGHT Grunwald is an RNA scientist and an expert in microscopes and how scientific images can tell a story.

FAITH

“I established myself in the RNA and nuclear pore community but at my heart I am a tool maker and a physicist who deeply cares about knowing how well we measure what we measure,” Grunwald said.

As imaging technology has progressed, some have said that microscopes are too complicated now for precisely comparing images produced using one instrument with those produced on another, according to Grunwald. But he said, “At the end of the day, the microscope is a photon detector. We just need to count photons. We can compare that.”

Grunwald said the importance of calibrating microscopes and recording data about settings and equipment is even more urgent as technology advances. Materials and media change over the years in scientific instruments just as in digital home entertainment systems, photography and personal computers. Resolution gets pushed to higher levels. Critically, detailed documentation is needed so information isn’t lost when the next technological advance comes into use.

Right now, unfortunately, because of the complexity of image data, scientists are publishing quantitative results—the numbers—but it is hard to connect those results with the often-stunning images that are behind them.”

CATERINA STRAMBIO-DE-CASTILLIA, P h D

FAITH NINIVAGGI

DAVID GRUNWALD, P h D

Grunwald’s focus on microscopy hardware dovetails with the software analyses championed by Strambio-De-Castillia.

Strambio-De-Castillia is not only a cell biologist, but she also studied computer science and incorporates that expertise into her work. She explained her role involves helping other scientists with data stewardship. “It’s not just the question of cataloging the data; it’s actually learning what is the important information you need to have and developing software tools that capture the key information so that it can be found later,” she said.

This analysis is becoming essential as grant funders such as the National Institutes of Health are enforcing requirements that applicants commit to research data management plans, in which sharable data must be made available.

Above all, image scientists want to help researchers get the most information out of their work, not only to advance knowledge but also to maximize efficiency of substantial resource investment.

From UMass Chan to the global stage

In the research labs at UMass Chan, Grunwald and Strambio-De-Castillia help scientists across different specialties collaborate to translate their data into cancer drugs and gene therapies.

Grunwald supports labs focusing on such topics as biochemical and molecular mechanisms that cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and exploring new roles of nuclear

components where processing RNA depends on its location in the nucleus, for example.

“The genomic revolution has meant we now have incredibly accurate and complex lists of cellular components,” Grunwald said. “The use of imaging is now about finally seeing where each of the components is organized in space and time across scales from single cells to the whole human body.”

“Understanding the structure of the genome is essential to understand anything that has to do with regulation in cancer biology,” Strambio-De-Castillia said. “But at the bottom, the basis is often images. And only a small portion of what is contained in images can be tapped. So, CZI decided to invest in people who are in these roles, who are enabling this work every day. That is the science of images.”

Building on her pioneering work on integrated imaging pipelines for viral particle tracking, in collaboration with the Biomedical Imaging Group at UMass Chan, Strambio-DeCastillia was invited in 2018 to join the NIH’s 4D Nucleome Consortium as an associate member to develop microscopy and image analysis metadata standards.

Metadata is “information about other data” that is needed to interpret results, Strambio-DeCastillia said. It provides the essential context to ensure results can be properly evaluated, interpreted, reproduced and compared.

Strambio-De-Castillia connected with a larger project called the Open Microscopy Environment, an international consortium that developed an initial model for how to organize this information.

With CZI supporting her growing work in this field, Strambio-De-Castillia was invited to organize and lead the quality control and data management working group of Bioimaging North America (BINA). BINA is a consortium formed to bring together the bioimaging community in Canada, the United States and Mexico, to foster communication, data sharing and technology dissemination among core facilities; promote training and professional

I established myself in the RNA and nuclear pore community but at my heart I am a tool maker and a physicist who deeply cares about knowing how well we measure what we measure.”

recognition for imaging scientists; and be a bioimaging advocate for institutional partners and funding agencies, with which to conduct strategic dialogue.

One of the key roles of BINA, now funded by CZI, is to serve as a counterpart to other global imaging organizations such as Global Bioimaging or the recently formed Quality Assurance and Reproducibility for Instruments & Images in Light Microscopy (QUAREP-LiMi) initiative. Strambio-De-Castillia’s work with QUAREP-LiMi to develop microscopy standards has been highlighted in numerous journals, including two articles in the July 2022 issue of Nature Methods

Grunwald also participates in NIH’s 4D Nucleome Consortium and QUAREP-LiMi, among other organizations, bringing the richness of cutting-edge microscopy resources to UMass Chan labs and helping shape the future of scientific imaging.

Making science better

As Dr. Bargmann, formerly of CZI, said, “We’re in a position where we’re trying to build technologies for and with scientists that will accelerate biomedical science as a whole. We believe that we can develop these kinds of approaches across different fields and use them, together with our grantees and together with other partners, to move science forward.”

It's an exciting time for a physicist and a biologist to work across fields to accelerate discoveries.

“All of this is about making science better,” said Strambio-De-Castillia. “We are not expecting everybody to be data science experts. Everything is about enabling biomedical researchers to do what they love and what they do best.”

“The work that every student on this hallway and our talented colleagues in this institution do is extremely good work,” added Grunwald. “But I feel we are in the middle of a moment in which something is changing fundamentally. And to be on the forefront and to take full advantage of this needs exactly the sort of imaging initiative that is led by my laboratory and that of Dr. Strambio-De-Castillia.” ■

The microscope pictured here and on page 12 was custom designed and built by Dr. Grunwald’s lab. It enables imaging the travel of single mRNA molecules in living cells using minimal amounts of excitation light.

Reflecting on a work in progress

By Janjay Innis and Jim Fessenden

UMass Chan Medical School has invested steadily for years in initiatives that promote access for populations traditionally underrepresented in medicine, biomedical research and advanced practice nursing. These outreach, pipeline and recruitment programs brought many new faces to campus. But the campus community, like the country, has changed, and with those changes have come increased expectations that more can and should be done. The murder in 2020 of George Floyd Jr. at the hands of police in Minneapolis, and the subsequent protests, rallies and demands for change catalyzed a movement: Black Lives Matter. At UMass Chan, the student-led group White Coats for Black Lives was at the forefront of an initiative to improve diversity, equity and inclusion on our own campus.

“Things at UMass Chan are different today than they were two years ago,” said Brian Lewis, PhD, the George F. Booth Chair in the Basic Sciences, assistant vice provost for outreach and recruitment, and professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology. “I think people on our campus— senior leadership included—look at issues of diversity much differently now than they have in the past. We have started to have these difficult conversations about diversity and ethnicity, conversations that can make us uncomfortable.”

For example, according to Dr. Lewis, the percentage of African American faculty at the Medical School today is the same as it was 18 years ago, when he joined the institution.

Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences PhD candidate Sarah Cleveland is among those at UMass Chan committed to making sure those conversations, however uncomfortable, take place. In addition to the rigorous work of pursuing a PhD in immunology, Cleveland participates in numerous groups dedicated to recruiting and retaining diverse learners in science, nursing and medicine and served as one of the diversity and inclusion co-chairs of the Graduate Student Body Council with her fellow student and cohort mate, Qiu Yu “Judy” Huang. She was actively involved in a student-led response to the initial statement UMass Chan issued after the murder of George Floyd. Students representing all three schools insisted on something more than a statement, which some described as “vague and insincere.” They wanted a comprehensive plan to increase the number of Black, Latinx and Indigenous people working and studying at UMass Chan.

In a series of meetings with campus leadership, Cleveland and fellow students, including Abiola Ogunsola, MD/PhD student; former student trustee Zachary Dyer, MD/ PhD student; and nursing student Anisha Chauhan, focused specifically on recruitment and retention of diverse learners and faculty. They requested—and readily received—more money to support underrepresented students, including expanding eligibility for Chancellor’s Scholarships to students in the biomedical sciences and graduate nursing and creating diversity supplements to cover moving and initial housing costs, as is typical at many peer institutions.

SARAH CLEVELAND, P h D CANDIDATE

The more people who are involved in these conversations, the more we can learn and the more comfortable we can become having them.”

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While a number of the students’ proposals were ultimately implemented, Cleveland noted one important point: Students feel they are being heard.

“So it’s now a process of figuring out what works best here,” she said. “How do we support the students who are already here? And how do we bring in more students and make sure that they’re supported once they’re here? I do feel like there have been changes.”

Lewis agreed and said the institution had committed sustainable resources directly to diversity. For example, UMass Chan initiated a pilot faculty recruitment program led by Milagros Rosal, PhD, vice provost for health equity, that cohorts multiple tenure track positions with the aim of enhancing diversity. There are also significant new efforts in faculty recruitment and retention designed to help tenure-track professors transition from postdoctoral studies to running independent labs. At the forefront of these efforts is an expanded Diversity and Inclusion Office that has committed to an active role in the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff, as well as in student outreach and admissions.

A strategic approach

Key to this commitment is Marlina Duncan, EdD, who joined UMass Chan as vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion in late 2020. She has recruited a team with professional expertise in communications, education and training, human resources outreach, and analytics. Her vision is to help the entire organization take a more strategic approach to increasing diversity, advancing equity and fostering a sense of belonging at UMass Chan.

“Diversity is a skill, like any other,” said Dr. Duncan. “Developing a skill takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. Our goal is to help people here develop that skill and normalize having difficult conversations about race and gender and ethnicity until it becomes second nature.”

Cleveland expects students will continue to work with leadership to keep the focus on change.

“The more people who are involved in these conversations, the more we can learn and the more comfortable we can become having them,” Cleveland said.

When Duncan took the position at UMass Chan, an important part of her approach to diversity, equity and inclusion was the addition of a data analyst to measure the success of the Medical School’s diversity efforts. “Information is critical to what we are doing. It informs what we do and how we plan,” said Duncan. “In order to make well-informed decisions, we must know what we’re doing; is it working; who’s coming here; who is staying and who is promoted? It’s how we evaluate the job we’re doing, address deficiencies and build on our strengths.”

Duncan also brought on board a communications specialist to develop unified messaging and storytelling to “bring to life the stories of underrepresented groups whose presence, voices and gifts we want at the table,” she said.

In order to make well-informed decisions, we must know what we’re doing; is it working; who’s coming here; who is staying and who is promoted. It’s how we evaluate the job we’re doing, address deficiencies and build on our strengths.”

MARLINA DUNCAN, E d D

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“We want to approach diversity from more than just a surface, ‘Let’s increase our number of underrepresented groups,’ approach,” said Duncan. “We want everybody at UMass Chan to be seen and heard. But that’s no small task. Doing that takes the talent of a very dedicated staff, which we are fortunate to have here at the Medical School.”

A big part of Duncan’s strategic effort was codified in early 2022 when Chancellor Michael F. Collins and senior leadership added diversity, equity and inclusion as a new pillar to the Medical School’s IMPACT 2025 strategic plan. This pillar makes it a priority for the Medical School to support, allocate resources, and explore collaboration to address underrepresentation of marginalized groups in medicine and the biomedical sciences. It also puts diversity, equity and inclusion on equal footing with other institutional priorities such as education, basic science research, translational research, community and global impact, and operational excellence.

“This creates visibility for diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Duncan. “When I arrived at UMass Chan there were a lot of disparate initiatives going on. It was very diluted and if you didn’t happen to bump into one of these initiatives, you didn’t really know what was happening on campus for diversity.

“If faculty, staff and students have to actively seek out support for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, then it’s only natural to wonder how important those efforts are,” said Duncan. “Having DEI as a pillar in the strategic plan signals to the people on campus, and the people thinking of joining UMass Chan, that diversity is a priority, there is more than a small pocket of people who are involved, it is a cause that the entire campus is behind. And it is that full engagement that ultimately moves the needle.”

Academic and administrative departments have been tasked with developing a plan, specific to their area of function, that addresses diversity, equity and inclusion. Each department has its own strengths and unique challenges that vary across the institution, Duncan said. Department leaders must initiate their own

plans, think about their roles in the institution, how diversity fits into their institutional function, identify gaps and then work to fill those gaps.

To jumpstart this process, roughly a dozen academic and administrative departments and units have agreed to participate in a pilot program. Together, they will model the development and implementation of departmental strategic plans, called Diversity and Equity Action Plans (DEAPs), for the rest of the institution.

Setting benchmarks for effectiveness

The goal is to take deliberate steps to cultivate a truly diverse, equitable, anti-racist and inclusive community that is central to achieving UMass Chan’s mission. To reach the deepest levels of change, according to Duncan, these priorities must live and breathe in the work of individual departments and units. Each department will gather information; conduct self-assessments; and develop a diversity, equity and inclusion vision with concrete goals and strategies to be measured by data. The DEAPs will be reviewed in conjunction with the Diversity and Inclusion Office, adopted, implemented, and assessed annually with benchmarks and timelines for effectiveness.

P h D, AND MARY MUNSON, P h D

CELIA

ESI A. ASARE, MBA

T.H. CHAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS

ethnicity—our backgrounds in general—have an impact on how we each view and solve problems. Having a diversity of experiences on faculty will bring our science to the next level and elevate the discoveries being made at UMass Chan.”

The department is also working with the newly created Office of Health Equity and eight other academic departments on a pilot cluster hiring initiative meant to broaden the diversity of candidates considered for tenure track faculty positions.

The Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology was one of the first to initiate a DEAP. The department was already taking steps to create safe places for conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion. Its Diversity Action Committee had been focused on achieving a more diverse, inclusive and supportive department by recruiting; retaining; and advancing students, postdocs, staff, and faculty from historically underrepresented backgrounds.

“In the wake of the racial unrest that was happening at the time, there was a group of faculty members in the department who started getting together to talk about the news and its impact on us, our trainees and the staff,” said Mary Munson, PhD, professor of biochemistry & molecular biotechnology and vice chair for diversity. “When we learned about the DEAP it seemed a natural step forward from some of what we were already doing internally in the department.”

“Diversity is important for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is that different people approach problems from different perspectives,” said Celia Schiffer, PhD, the Arthur F. and Helen P. Koskinas Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology, chair and professor of biochemistry & molecular biotechnology, and director of the Institute for Drug Resistance. “Whether you’re a man or woman, where you grew up, your social and economic status,

Led by Dr. Rosal, the Imoigele P. Aisiku, MD’97 Chair in Health Equity and Diversity, and professor of population & quantitative health sciences, the initiative is recruiting junior faculty for tenure track positions across interdisciplinary departments in neuroscience, immunology/ infectious disease and health equity. Candidate applications are screened by a multidisciplinary group of faculty based on an evaluation of the candidate’s anonymized research plan and diversity statement (both requirements of the application). High ranking candidates are brought forward to hiring departments where their expertise matches for a full review of their application by a departmental search committee. Finalists are then forwarded to the chair, who makes the final hiring decision.

The cluster hire initiative doesn’t require that candidates be from underrepresented groups, explained Rosal, but they must have a compelling diversity statement in order to be considered. UMass Chan is in line with national efforts to increase faculty diversity at universities and medical schools. For example, the Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST), an RFA first issued by the National Institutes of Health in 2020, aims to help institutions build a “self-reinforcing” community of scientists through recruitment of a critical mass of early-career faculty who have a demonstrated commitment to inclusive excellence. The NIH effort will invest $241 million over nine years in a dozen universities and medical schools to support clusters of newly hired young faculty members in inclusive, sustainable environments.

ROB CARLIN

The cluster hire pilot represents a concerted effort to minimize some of the biases that are often thought to pervade academe in general and “hard” sciences in particular. All steps of the candidate evaluation use standardized evaluation tools and rubrics. All faculty members involved in the evaluation of candidates received training on implicit biases. Interviewers were mentored on how traits such as the way people talk, dress, use body language or conduct themselves may inform or prejudice opinions of them.

“There are biases that creep into our evaluation process and we aren’t even aware of it,” said Dr. Schiffer.

Schiffer explained that there is a bias in academia to select faculty candidates from “top tier” universities and medical schools. It is presumed these institutions must have the best trained and smartest graduates. But of course, there are exceptional scientists coming from universities around the country and around the world, with unique viewpoints.

“We want to recruit and hire the best faculty,” said Schiffer. “UMass Chan has a reputation of being very collegial. It’s a special place and we want to hire special people who will thrive in this atmosphere, not just scientifically, but people who want to actively participate in our community.”

Ensuring equity in opportunities

According to Rosal, there’s been a recognition over the past 20 years of the need to support access and exposure to science—the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. And yet, extensive pipeline initiatives at the high school and college level have not translated to increased diversity among faculty at universities.

“Although we have a more diverse pool of graduates, they aren’t finding their way into higher education,” said Rosal. “We’re losing those graduates to other industries because many don’t see a place for themselves in academia.”

A more diverse faculty begins with the recruitment process, said Rosal. “Where do we look for applicants? How do they learn about us? Do they see a place for themselves at UMass Chan? We can’t just publish job listings in traditional journals or use the same networks and word of mouth and expect to find different, diverse candidates.”

Rosal has been actively approaching social organizations and institutions during the recruitment process that are dedicated to

promoting diversity, such as the Intersections Science Fellows Symposium, which showcases outstanding research contributions of postdocs in the biological sciences, including those from backgrounds historically underrepresented in academia.

Recruitment of diverse faculty is only the beginning. Ensuring equity in opportunities for career advancement and long-term retention also are critical, Rosal said. “To support the career advancement, cross-collaborations, and integration of our cluster hires into the larger UMass Chan scientific community, we also are piloting a new Independent Career Advancement Program (iCAP) available to all new junior faculty hires.”

I think people on our campus—senior leadership included—look at issues of diversity differently now than they have in the past. We have started to have these very difficult conversations about diversity and ethnicity.”

BRIAN LEWIS, P h D

“

“

MILAGROS ROSAL, P h D

Implemented through the Office of Health Equity, the iCAP is co-led by Dr. Munson; Catarina Kiefe, MD, PhD, the Melvin S. and Sandra L. Cutler Chair in Biomedical Research and professor of population & quantitative health sciences; and Cynthia Fuhrmann, PhD, associate professor of RNA therapeutics. iCAP participants are matched with mentors and sponsors and provided with tailored workshops (e.g., setting up a research lab, navigating NIH review, managing up) and individualized writing support via a science writer, as well as opportunities such as writing accountability groups and cross-departmental research discussions.

“If we provide junior faculty the resources they need to grow, it increases the chances that they’ll be successful and stay in academia,” Rosal said.

More than 300 applications were received this year as part of the cluster hire pilot. Two candidates from underrepresented groups in medicine have accepted positions at UMass

Chan so far, and two offers are pending. The goal is to hire a cluster of at least three new faculty members from traditionally underrepresented groups.

The lessons learned from the pilot cluster hire program will form the basis for a proposal to the National Institutes of Health for funding to expand this initiative.

“We’re scientists,” said Rosal. “We follow the data. The idea behind the NIH-funded FIRST Cohort program is to see if cluster models are effective at promoting faculty diversity.”

As part of the cluster hire, an additional tenure track faculty position is being made available to a department with no tenure track positions this year. Should UMass Chan be successful in securing NIH funding through the FIRST Cohort, Provost and Dean Terence R. Flotte will make three additional tenure track faculty positions available for the cluster hire. “This is a significant investment of resources,” said Rosal. “Starting packages for new faculty require an allocation of resources. This sort of financial commitment to promoting diversity is an indication of how important it is to UMass Chan and shows potential candidates how much the institution values their contributions to our community.”

Building relationships

Esi A. Asare, MBA, director of admissions for the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, describes a similar strategy to increase the pool of underrepresented medical students. On “Second Look Day,” for example, when accepted students visit campus and meet students and faculty, there’s now an opportunity to meet with representatives of the Diversity and Inclusion Office and faculty and students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in medicine. Another initiative has the admissions team working with pre-med counselors and advisors at colleges and universities serving predominantly underrepresented populations, including historically black colleges and universities.

“We want all of these prospective students to know that there are stakeholders at UMass Chan who want to make sure they are successful when they come to us as medical students,” said Asare, “so that prospective students have a clear picture of what we have to offer and how we can help them overcome challenges on their paths to becoming exceptional health care professionals.”

We’re scientists. We follow the data. The idea behind the pilot cluster hire is to see if it is effective at promoting diversity. If we’re successful, the hope is that with NIH backing we can expand the cluster hire concept.”

PhD candidate Sarah Cleveland chose UMass Chan as a result of a similar approach. She met Lewis while she was a member of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, which helps prepare traditionally underrepresented students with strong academic potential for graduate study. As part of their program, McNair Scholars visit universities with graduate programs and participate in tours and discussions with representatives of the schools. Lewis co-hosted the McNair cohort here.

Cleveland said that UMass Chan and Brown University were the only two schools the McNair Scholars visited where she saw professors who were people of color. Serendipitously, the faculty member she met at Brown was Marlina Duncan.

“That for me changed the way that I looked at which school I was going to. UMass Chan has a very welcoming atmosphere. The buildings are newer, everybody was very organized. So

that was all part of it,” Cleveland said. “But Brian reached back out to me after. And he was one of the only people who did that. So I felt like I was building a relationship. And I felt like the school wanted me.”

The common thread that all agree on is that promoting diversity is more than just increasing the numbers of underrepresented groups at UMass Chan: It must be about creating a culture that embraces differences and is built on relationships.

“At the end of the day, we want UMass Chan to be synonymous with diversity the way it is with collaboration,” said Duncan. “Whether it’s a new assistant professor coming out of her postdoc or an undergraduate considering medical school, we want them thinking that UMass Chan is the place to go because we’re going to support you and nurture you,” said Duncan. “This is a place where your voice will be heard and valued.” ■

lastword

Michael F. Collins, MD Chancellor and Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences

I began a special investiture ceremony earlier this year with the words, “Every institution has its moment.” The occasion of that investiture was to acknowledge the extraordinary generosity of University of Massachusetts Board Chair Robert Manning and his wife, Donna Manning, who, in an unprecedented gesture of support for UMass Chan, established five new endowed chairs at the Medical School.

In doing so, the Mannings joined a host of other benefactors over the rich history of this institution who have recognized that the work being done at UMass Chan is important, worldchanging and, in a word, momentous.

These five new chairs are a benchmark for the progress and the promise that our faculty, students and alumni exemplify.

These leaders are among the most influential visionaries, mentors and caregivers on our faculty, whose work has already transformed clinical care, research and education; each sees the support of the Manning gift as an opportunity to extend the reach and impact

of their work: for Joan M. Vitello-Cicciu, PhD, professor of nursing and dean of the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, who was invested as the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Nursing, it’s a plan for a program in interprofessional leadership; for Mary Ellen Lane, PhD, professor of neurobiology and dean of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, invested as the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Biomedical Sciences, the endowment will support new training opportunities in the graduate program.

Michael P. Stauff, MD, associate professor of orthopedics & physical rehabilitation and vice chair for clinical practice was invested as the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Orthopedics ; he envisions a multi-institutional database that researchers can use to answer important clinical questions about options and outcomes for cervical and lumbar spine surgery. Tiffany A. Moore Simas, MD, MPH, MEd, chair and professor of obstetrics & gynecology, invested as the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology, will use support from the endowment to advance women’s holistic health and women’s leadership in academic medicine.

And Robert H. Brown Jr., DPhil, MD, professor of neurology, invested as the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Neurosciences, will accelerate the already dramatic pace of research to the next phase of clinical trials of gene modulation therapy for ALS.

As you can see, faculty at UMass Chan are literally changing the course of the history of disease, while training those who will follow them in the medical, nursing and science professions to make momentous achievements of their own.

The Mannings joined a host of other benefactors over the rich history of this institution who have recognized that the work being done at UMass Chan is important, world-changing and, in a word, momentous.

We now have 62 endowed chairs and professorships at UMass Chan, supporting faculty in almost as many disciplines, a number that has doubled since 2006; these endowments support faculty who are not only world leaders in their fields, but world leaders in collaboration, cooperation and collegiality, and world leaders in driving our innovative and dynamic medical school to achieve.

The support of our benefactors, exemplified by the Mannings, empowers us all to do more and serves as a reminder of the tremendous power of a community committed to the common good. This is indeed our moment: a year ago, we acknowledged the transformative power of the naming gift from The Morningside Foundation; that gift was, as I suggested at the time, catalytic—an expression of confidence in our future that would inspire others. The confidence of Rob and Donna Manning will, I am certain, inspire many others—other benefactors, perhaps, but more certainly, our students, our faculty, our dedicated staff and our network of alumni who look with great pride at how this institution has stayed true to its mission. They share this moment. ■

lastword

Robert and Donna Manning with the newly endowed Manning Chairs and Dean Terence R. Flotte, UMass President Marty Meehan and Chancellor Michael F. Collins.

CHRIS EVANS

Since the historic gift from The Morningside Foundation was announced a year ago, UMass Chan Medical School has been steadily updating interior and exterior signage throughout the campus. The most iconic elements are the UMass Chan logos that adorn every Medical School building and which are visible from afar. Here, the old logo on the Albert Sherman Center at the corner of Plantation Street and North Road is removed, soon to be replaced by the new version.

@umasschan

@umasschan is the magazine of UMass Chan Medical School, one of five campuses of the UMass system. The magazine is distributed periodically to members, benefactors and friends of the UMass Chan community. It is published by the Office of Communications.

Readers are invited to comment on the contents of the magazine, via email to UMassChanCommunications@umassmed.edu; please include “@umasschan magazine” in the subject line.

Chancellor and Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences: Michael F. Collins, MD

Executive Deputy Chancellor and Provost, Dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine: Terence R. Flotte, MD

Vice Chancellor for Communications: Jennifer Berryman

Editor: Mark L. Shelton

Managing editor: Ellie Castano

Staff contributors: Ellie Castano, Jim Fessenden, Bryan Goodchild, Sandra Gray, Janjay Innis, Lisa Larson, Colleen Locke, Mark L. Shelton, Susan E.W. Spencer

Design: Dan Lambert

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The Student Spotlight series features UMass Chan Medical School students in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and T.H. Chan School of Medicine. The series is published throughout the academic year on the UMass Chan Medical School website. To see these and other news stories, visit www.umassmed.edu/news

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