Donna and Robert Manning establish endowed chairs

A couple 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.”

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.

Photo By: CHRIS EVANS

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. ■