2020 THE UNIVERSIT Y OF MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SCHOOL MAGAZINE
‘Reality just shifted’ CLASS OF 2020 REFLECTS ON IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC Story on page 8
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A strengthened commitment to diversity
Targeting a coronavirus
Philanthropic support of COVID-19 research
The University of Massachusetts 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.
2020
@umassmed
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SOM Class of 2020 in 2018
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F E ATU R E S Medical School strengthens commitment to diversity
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New VA–UMass Medical School partnership elevates health care for veterans in Central Massachusetts
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UMass Medical School appoints five faculty members to endowed chairs
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Cover story: ‘Reality just shifted’
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Targeting a coronavirus
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Auxiliary fighters
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Philanthropic support totaling $3 million driving COVID-19 research
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Last Word
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Medical School strengthens commitment to diversity
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he year 2020 brought profound change in higher education, particularly for institutions like UMass Medical School, an academic health sciences center with a mission of improving human health. The COVID-19 global pandemic is one example of how change was thrust upon the Medical School. But it was not the only challenge demanding action. The nation’s institutions also faced a reckoning on racial disparities, a reckoning prompted in large part by widespread anguish and action following the death in May of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. “The sobering reality is that racism is a public health crisis,” said Chancellor Michael F. Collins. “At UMass Medical School, we see the impact of inequality most concretely on access to education and health care, but we don’t have to look very far to see the pernicious effects of
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racism on housing, criminal justice, food security and employment. We know that even well-intentioned allies can perpetuate unconscious and implicit biases and structural racism.” Chancellor Collins and the UMMS leadership team outlined invigorated efforts in 2020 to put diversity into action. “At UMass Medical School, we believe that diversity drives our future. We aspire to create an academic community where all are and feel welcome and able to thrive,” Collins said. “Our students, who represent the next generation of stewards of our health, have challenged us to be more transparent and more accountable in creating a learning environment that embodies the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion. And we are doing so.” Some long-standing diversity and inclusion initiatives are being
strengthened and expanded through the IMPACT 2025 strategic plan; other actions, such as charging academic leaders to strengthen diversity among faculty and students, align directly with priorities identified by students. The Medical School has also begun an ongoing series of conversations designed to help the community explore its own biases and communicate ways to make positive change. Following are highlights of diversity activities this year: · The appointment in September of Milagros C. Rosal, PhD, professor of population & quantitative health sciences in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, to the newly created position of vice provost for health equity, responsible for institutional development and implementation of a strategic vision for increasing
ROB CARLIN PHOTOGRAPHY
More than 500 members of the UMass Medical School– UMass Memorial community took part in a silent vigil for George Floyd in June.
· Recruiting the next vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, who as a member of the senior leadership team, will be charged with designing, implementing and championing diversity training, programming and collaboration across UMass Medical School. · The appointment in July of Maria M. Garcia, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, to the new role of assistant vice provost for diversity and student success, responsible for continued development of educational programs and mentorship that respect the diverse educational goals of learners from different educational, personal and cultural backgrounds, in order to enhance career development for students in all three graduate schools. “I think that students and faculty are really looking at programs that make a difference,” said Dr. Garcia. “It’s not done by us sitting and saying, ‘This is how we’re going to change culture.’ It’s really making people feel comfortable with being with people who are different.” The School of Medicine student population is notably diverse and the new Class of 2024 reflects that, comprising 91 women, 69 men and two students who did not declare their gender. Eighteen are firstgeneration college students, 18 are from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds and 26 are from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine. The increasingly diverse student population has been a catalyst for
continuing reflection and action. “In the spirit of our assuming responsibility to do more to combat racism in society and in our institutions, we have re-examined all the things that we do within the three-school academic community,” said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medical Education, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the School of Medicine.
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At UMass Medical School, we believe that diversity drives our future. We aspire to create an academic community where all are and feel welcome and able to thrive. CHANCELLOR M I C H A E L F. CO L L I N S
Dean Flotte said Sonia Chimienti, MD, associate professor of medicine, vice provost for student life and enrollment, and associate dean for student affairs, developed antiracism initiatives involving students, while he worked with academic department chairs and deans. Further, Dr. Chimienti expanded her leadership team to include Brian Lewis, PhD, professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology and the assistant vice provost for outreach and recruitment. Working with all three schools, Dr. Lewis is focused on learner recruitment to enhance diversity, while Dr. Garcia is focused on inclusion and retention. Holistic student affairs programming is being developed, guided by principles of inclusion of voices from the student body
in decisions regarding programs and recruitment; offering the right support at the right time for the entire student body, meeting students where they are; and practicing continuous quality improvement in programs and support, through self-reflection, selfevaluation, modification and growth. “We have decided as a leadership team that a critical way to combat institutional racism is to recruit more diverse faculty. This will be the primary mission of the newly created vice provost for health equity position, and to a large extent that person will be responsible for driving the process,” Flotte said. Flotte continued, “The overarching goal is simple: To make UMMS the best medical school in the world in the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty.” The Medical School is rigorously expanding its recruiting to achieve greater representation of applicants traditionally underrepresented in medicine and the health sciences from across the nation, strictly applying holistic review, and identifying and eliminating admission tools that may
The vigil in remembrance of George Floyd was organized by the UMMS chapter of White Coats for Black Lives and the Student National Medical Association. @UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 3
ROB CARLIN PHOTOGRAPHY
recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, in concert with the vice provost for clinical and translational science, the vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, and the vice provost for faculty affairs. She will also co-chair the Provost’s Faculty Recruitment Task Force, a group that will work to advance the Medical School’s diversity goals within the faculty ranks.
disproportionately disadvantage these applicants from consideration. UMMS has a long commitment to developing a pipeline of students from communities underrepresented in medicine through partnerships with Worcester Public Schools and area colleges. Collins and his leadership team are now also looking at ways to create a pipeline of diverse potential faculty and candidates for administrative positions. Efforts addressing bias and racism in the learning environment are being implemented in several ways. One initiative known as DRIVE, which stands for Diversity, Representation and Inclusion for Value in Education, employs a curriculum appraisal tool designed to illuminate and remove unconscious bias from
course and teaching materials, and a website with resources to promote inclusive learning. DRIVE committee members from across the School of Medicine, Graduate School of Nursing, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Graduate Medical Education, with institutional partners, have been holding workshops and department Grand Rounds to introduce the program. Begun nearly two years ago, it has a bold goal of reaching all corners of the UMMS learning and educational environment. Melissa Fischer, MD, MEd, professor of medicine and associate dean for undergraduate medical education, curriculum innovation and iCELS, said the DRIVE initiative helps the UMMS community embrace cultural
humility. “In medicine, we talk a lot about uncertainty and having to make decisions with the information we have, continually reassessing and being open to change,” she said. “Viewing our teaching and learning through that lens supports this effort to illustrate the impacts of bias on health and the critical value of equity and diversity in medical practice and our community.” “Institutions of higher education are at an important inflection point,” Collins said. “We must work together with our students, our faculty and our community, as we have committed to at UMass Medical School, to steer our future in the right direction.” ■
New VA–UMass Medical School partnership elevates health care for veterans in Central Massachusetts
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ld Glory adorns the white steel beam raised to the top of the medical building under construction on campus to mark the new high ground for veterans health care in Central Massachusetts. Slated to open in the fall of 2021, the new community-based outpatient clinic is a collaboration between the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System and UMass Medical School to provide veterans in the region with a clinical facility that rises to the level of their service to the country. “This partnership is all about ensuring those who have served our nation have access to high-quality and comprehensive medical care, close to home,” said Chancellor Michael F. Collins. The clinic will occupy the first two floors of the new, four-story medical office building, with 65 exam, consultation and procedure rooms designed for patient-aligned care 4 | 2020
Slated to open in the fall of 2021, the new community-based outpatient clinic is a collaboration between the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System and UMass Medical School.
teams. Most of the clinic is devoted to primary and mental health care, with some specialty care, including radiology and echocardiology, and physical and occupational therapy. The clinic will also have a clinical lab and a pharmacy.
It will also be a new teaching site for several UMMS primary care and behavioral health programs, including the newly established primary care internal medicine track, the third-year psychiatry clerkship and the graduate medical education
just weeks before Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic and closed nonessential businesses and most construction projects in the state. The building project was allowed to continue, however, because it is considered an essential medical facility. With nearly all of Suffolk’s other projects shut down, the VA project became an important opportunity Despite the COVID-19 state of emergency, the VA building project was allowed to continue because it is considered an essential medical facility.
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The emphasis on primary care and behavioral health matches the greatest health care needs of veterans and aligns well with our strong teaching programs in those areas. TERENCE R. FLOTTE , MD
The clinic will occupy the first two floors of the four-story building, with 65 exam, consultation and procedure rooms.
residency training program in psychiatry. Students from the Graduate School of Nursing will also learn at the clinic, including those in the psychiatric nurse practitioner track. “The emphasis on primary care and behavioral health matches the greatest health care needs of veterans and aligns well with our strong teaching programs in those areas,” said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medical Education, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the School of Medicine. The building is being designed by the Smith Group, and will feature a two-story lobby and a four-story open stairway that will be visible through a wall of glass.
“The building’s design pays homage to those who have sacrificed and honored our country,” said Greg Heppner, AIA, principal in charge at Smith Group. “A large, lighted American flag graphic within the four-story stair that faces the main campus will highlight an important symbol for veterans, and also signal to the UMass Medical School community the partnership created to provide care for those who have served.” Suffolk Construction is the general contractor for the building, which is being built on the site of the former Massachusetts Department of Transportation District 3 Headquarters on the Belmont Street side of the Medical School campus. Construction began in early 2020,
for the company to develop safety procedures and adapt its work processes to the pandemic environment. “We now have very specific COVID-19 safety protocols in place for every project, and our company-wide program for working in this environment came largely from what we developed and implemented for the UMass Medical School project,” said Jeff Gouveia, president and general manager of the northeast region at Suffolk. Suffolk installed a special trailer at the Belmont Street construction site gate. Anyone coming on the site must first pass through the trailer for a COVID-19 screening, which includes having their temperature taken by a thermal camera. All on the site must wear appropriate personal protective equipment. The company has also developed a series of instructional videos and provides counseling resources to @UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 5
help its employees deal with both the physical impact on their work and the emotional toll the pandemic can take. “This is not just another project for us,” Gouveia said. “We have a lot of veterans in our company, and for me personally, my dad was highly decorated for his service in Vietnam. He spends a lot of time at the VA these days, and they take great care of him, so it’s important for me that we deliver a great facility for the VA to take care of all our veterans.”
The building has been designed to meet LEED and Green Globes certification for energy efficiency and sustainable operation. The project also includes a five-story addition to the South Road parking garage, with an elevator tower and sky bridge connection to the new building. The programming for the third and fourth floors of the new building is not yet final. “As I see the new building rise from the ground, I am filled with
tremendous satisfaction, hope and pride,” Chancellor Collins said. “Satisfaction that more of our region’s brave veterans will receive the comprehensive care they need, close to home; hope that our students will meaningfully contribute to the care veterans receive while benefitting from the relationships formed in the VA system; and pride in knowing that our commonwealth’s only public medical school is facilitating such a universally positive impact.” ■
UMass Medical School appoints five faculty members to endowed chairs
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he University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees approved the establishment of four newly endowed professorships and the appointment of five esteemed UMMS faculty members to new and existing endowed chairs.
Douglas T. Golenbock, MD
The Neil and Margery Blacklow Chair in Infectious Diseases and Immunology Neil R. Blacklow, MD, chair emeritus and professor of medicine, and his wife, Margery L. Blacklow, made a leadership gift to establish the Neil and Margery Blacklow Chair in Infectious Diseases and Immunology. Dr. Blacklow is an internationally 6 | 2020
respected physician-scientist and infectious disease expert who served the UMMS community from 1976 to 2008, initially as the founding chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and subsequently, as chair of the Department of Medicine. Per the endowment agreement, the gift from the Blacklows is to support the work of the chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology. This position has been held by Douglas T. Golenbock, MD, since 2001. Under Dr. Golenbock’s outstanding leadership, the division has become nationally renowned, with nearly 50 clinicians and researchers and a research grant portfolio approaching $20 million. The Richard V. Aghababian, MD’74 Chair in Emergency Medicine The distinguished legacy of Richard V. Aghababian, MD, stretches back to the earliest days of UMMS when Dr. Aghababian was admitted to the inaugural class of 16 medical students, graduating with them in 1974. In 1992, he was appointed founding chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, a position he held until 2007. Following his death in 2014, his wife, Ann, and his
Gregory A. Volturo, MD
family sought to honor his career by establishing an endowed fund to support the ongoing development of emergency medicine physician leaders. More recently, Mrs. Aghababian permanently endowed a second fund that bears her husband’s name to support the needs of the chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. As such, Gregory A. Volturo, MD, has been appointed the inaugural holder of the Richard V. Aghababian, MD’74 Chair in Emergency Medicine, and will be able to support medical education, research and patient care needs with proceeds from the endowment. After joining UMMS in 1988, Dr. Volturo served for seven years as Dr. Aghababian’s vice chair,
ultimately succeeding him as chair of the department. Volturo will carry on Aghababian’s legacy by now holding the endowed chair that bears his name.
muscle, placenta, vasculature and brain—tissues previously not targeted by RNA interference. Notably, the Khvorova lab is currently investigating the use of siRNA and antisense RNA oligonucleotides specific for SARS-CoV-2, which could be delivered to all cell types in the lungs and potentially target the virus and significantly reduce the rate of viral replication. Jennifer A. Reidy, MD
Joy McCann Professor for Women in Medicine Anastasia Khvorova, PhD
The Remondi Family Chair in Biomedical Research In creating the Remondi Family Chair in Biomedical Research, Dorothy A. and John J. Remondi have chosen to invest in a biomedical researcher whose work is advancing the fundamental understanding of human biological systems and offering new and innovative pathways to treat human disease. Through the Remondi Family Foundation, Dottie and John Remondi have supported numerous organizations across Massachusetts and beyond in education, social service, health care and medical research initiatives. As a pioneer in understanding the biochemistry of RNA therapeutics, Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, is uniquely qualified for such recognition. Her lab identifies the chemical and biological properties that drive the distribution, retention, cellular uptake and biological availability of small RNAs. Her overarching goal is to employ chemical engineering to deliver oligonucleotide and RNA-based therapies to the heart, kidneys,
Erik J. Sontheimer, PhD
The Pillar Chair in Biomedical Research Established in 2015 with a philanthropic investment by the Pillar Group, based in Beirut, this endowment broadly supports pioneering biomedical research that will ultimately impact human health and the practice of medicine. Erik J. Sontheimer, PhD, one of the most highly regarded leaders in the field of CRISPR gene editing, is the newest recipient of the Pillar Chair in Biomedical Research, formerly held by Golenbock. When UMMS recruited Dr. Sontheimer in 2014, he had already published paradigm-shifting discoveries that laid the groundwork for the CRISPR revolution in gene therapy. More recently, Sontheimer helped identify Cas9 inhibitors, so-called “antiCRISPRs,” that could potentially control the activity of Cas9 enzymes.
Jennifer A. Reidy, MD, has been named the new Joy McCann Professor for Women in Medicine. This three-year professorship rewards female faculty leaders in medical education, research, patient care and community service. The McCann Professorship was established at UMass Medical School in 2005 by an endowment from the Joy McCann Foundation. Among her many professional accomplishments, Dr. Reidy has developed an innovative curriculum to support medical and nursing students in learning how to effectively provide end-of-life care and counseling to patients. The curriculum was developed under Reidy’s leadership in partnership with the commonwealth’s three other medical schools and is supported by the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care. Reidy is a passionate advocate for improving palliative care as a means of improving the quality of care, reducing harm and honoring the wishes of patients. ■
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‘Reality just shifted’ CLASS OF 2020 REFLECTS ON IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
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Members of the School of Medicine Class of 2020 at their class show in 2018
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he future looked very different at the dawn of the year. Fourth-year medical students anticipated their residency matches, a celebratory commencement ceremony and long-planned vacations. Graduate School of Nursing students were wrapping up research projects and advancing their clinical practice. Doctoral candidates in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences were preparing to defend their dissertations and enter a job market brimming with possibilities. In March 2020, everything changed after a novel coronavirus, first reported in Wuhan, China, raced across continents, causing a global pandemic of severe respiratory infection that was named COVID-19. UMass Medical School students planning to graduate in May were on the forefront of the pandemic’s impact, facing disruptions in their personal lives while responding to the need to bring their talents to the fight. Moving the traditional Match Day celebration to an online event in early March heralded the first of many changes. Then on March 31, the School of Medicine became the first medical school in the country
to graduate students two months early, working with state licensing authorities to bring a surge of new physicians to treat patients. Uncertainty, but also opportunities to serve, learn and grow marked the capstone to graduates’ academic careers.
The School of Medicine became the first medical school in the country to graduate students two months early, bringing a surge of new physicians to treat patients. “Your medical education doesn’t stop the day you come across the commencement stage,” Chancellor Michael F. Collins said. Despite disruptions caused by the pandemic, Chancellor Collins said, “Our students were up to the task, whatever the task was they were doing.”
School of Medicine “Never before have we needed you more to join our ranks as healers and leaders of health care teams,” School of Medicine Dean Terence R. Flotte told graduates in his remarks at the school’s virtual commencement on March 31. “Yours is a vocation, a calling, to serve your fellow human beings in their moments of greatest need.” Shruthi Srinivas, MD’20, had been planning a two-week vacation abroad, weekends in Maine, weddings and to attend her younger brother’s college graduation before starting her residency in general surgery at Ohio State University. Instead, Dr. Srinivas joined the surge corps of new physicians in April and was assigned to a COVID intensive care unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center. “It was a very steep learning curve, treating patients with a disease that we don’t know anything about,” Srinivas said. Her role included calling patients’ families to give them updates on loved ones they hadn’t seen in days or weeks. While it was a daunting task, she knew that she had practiced as a medical student on standardized patients, in front of her peers and on video, which gave her confidence. @UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 9
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“I have a sense of excitement, to be part of the health care system and contribute to treating patients and helping people through difficult times like this.” ANDREW EL-HAYEK, MD’20
“I think the biggest thing UMass Medical School taught me is that I’m capable of doing things,” Srinivas said. “When I was a medical student, I learned how to take on challenges, when to ask for help and when to figure things out on my own, which now as a provider for patients, is a very useful skill.” Patrick Lowe, MD, PhD’20, also jumped into the fray, helping bring outpatient telehealth quickly up to speed and joining the physician surge corps, a far cry from his plans to take a break after eight years of graduate school to golf and spend time with his family, including his 6-month-old son. Dr. Lowe matched in emergency medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “The reality just shifted,” Lowe said. “I didn’t expect to be working as a quasi-intern so quickly, but it was a seamless transition.” In the hospital, Lowe was assigned to a general medicine unit at UMass
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Memorial, freeing up other physicians for COVID care. He then worked on a COVID unit with former classmates, providing support to attending physicians by writing notes, doing orders and communicating with families. “I’ve gotten a great amount of education just in this last month or so,” Lowe said in May. “And with respect to COVID, I see that even in a hospital with all these resources, things can change pretty quickly, so that’s an important lesson.” Grant Lewandrowski, MD’20, put his self-designed emergency, disaster and tactical medicine elective and U.S. Marine Corps training to use to help set up the Worcester DCU Center field hospital in April, working with Blake Foster, SOM ’21. The field hospital was designed to treat less-seriously ill COVID patients, leaving hospital resources for those who were critically ill. Dr. Lewandrowski matched with UMass Medical School in family medicine and will be doing his outpatient work at UMass Memorial Medical Center’s Barre Family Health Center. Responding to the COVID-19 crisis “definitely altered” his career, he said.
“I went into family medicine because I love the flexibility of the field and also, I’ve become a true believer who thinks primary care is the way to fix our health care system,” Lewandrowski said. “But I also want to see if there is a niche I can carve out where I’m a family medicine guy, but on the side, I do disaster medicine plans.” Lewandrowski was not able to participate in the surge corps, which, as with some others who were unable or chose not to volunteer, left him with “a little survivor’s guilt,” he said. “Fortunately, I was able to find a way to contribute, even though it wasn’t direct hands-on patient care.” Heather Reiley, MD’20, found a different way to serve before leaving for her residency in pediatrics at Maine Medical Center. She signed on with the nonprofit Partners in Health to be a contact investigator, conducting contact tracing interviews remotely for COVID cases referred each day by the state Department of Public Health. Dr. Reiley had finished a fifth year of medical school in December, following a global health experience abroad the previous spring, and was on a graduation trip to New Zealand when the pandemic erupted. She was at Los Angeles International Airport, returning home, when she read the email that the traditional Match Day celebration was canceled. “I thought it would be a good use of my time and also a good experience to learn how contact tracing works,” said Reiley. Speaking with COVID-19 patients was emotionally difficult at times, she said. Low-income communities were hit hard and many of those affected did not have a primary care provider, lived in crowded homes, or wouldn’t be paid if they didn’t go to work. “But mostly, it was just trying to make that human connection,” she said. “I’m definitely well prepared for this role because at UMass Medical School, the strength is teaching us how to do interviews and work with patients.”
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The experience, said Reiley, “reinforced the importance of public health,” which she hopes to incorporate into her career. “Sadness is not a zero-sum game,” Andrew El-Hayek, MD’20, told his classmates in his virtual commencement speech. “We can acknowledge the gravity and true tragedy this pandemic represents with respect to human lives lost, while also having room to mourn the losses we have endured.” Dr. El-Hayek, who matched in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said he regretted not having the chance to celebrate with his class and spend a few weeks traveling. He settled into his apartment in Boston with his significant other, classmate Danielle Iskandar, MD’20, who matched at Massachusetts General Hospital in pediatrics and did “a mish-mash” of volunteer activities. Having been a peer mentor in medical school, El-Hayek worked on a teaching module to prepare rising third-year students for clinical work; conducted chart reviews for a study on stratifying COVID patient risk; and made mental health support calls with a human services agency. He reflected on how lucky he was to have been in medical school at the start of this global crisis and to be able to understand as much about it as is known. El-Hayek said, “The things that have been challenging are more inconveniences. And I have a sense of excitement, to be part of the health care system and contribute to treating patients and helping people through difficult times like this.” Ashley Matthew, MD, PhD’20, wanted to become a physician-scientist to give back by taking care of patients and making lasting impacts that will help patients for generations. It was a family affair. She and her twin sister, Asia
Matthew-Onabanjo, went to college together and entered the UMMS MD/ PhD program together. MatthewOnabanjo anticipates finishing her studies in 2021. Dr. Matthew, who received two Chancellor’s Awards—in the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences—looked forward to spending time with her family and traveling abroad after finishing her degrees in March. COVID crushed her travel plans. “But a big part of this time for me was really prioritizing my family, and that’s what I did,” Matthew said. It would be the last time family members could be together
“I never thought a mask would be so sacred. It’s almost a lifeline, to be able to have human connection and go outside.”
before she headed to Virginia Commonwealth University, where she matched in urology. Matthew also helped with chart reviews to develop a COVID database. “I think the virus showed us we’re not prepared for a situation like this, in terms of resources,” she said. The shortage and importance of PPE particularly opened her eyes. “I never thought a mask would be so sacred. It’s almost a lifeline, to be able to have human connection and go outside,” Matthew said. The pandemic’s silver lining for Matthew was, “While it’s not what we hoped for, there are other things that you’re able to do, which you wouldn’t have done without this little break in time.”
ASHLEY MATTHEW, MD, PhD’20
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Graduate School of Nursing Joanne Lewis, PhD’20, ACNP-BC, worked as a nurse practitioner in UMass Memorial’s general surgery department, pursuing her PhD in nursing to study better ways to manage pain and reduce opioid use after surgery. Her dissertation, which she defended over Zoom, featured a feasibility study of a patient video intervention. Dr. Lewis planned to continue doing research alongside her clinical work. “But with COVID, everything is different,” she said. “A lot of Institutional Review Board stuff is
put on hold so you can’t bring new patients in for studies right now. Everything kind of just stopped.” The changes scared Lewis a little. “I think I am much more needed clinically in the short term,” she said. “I need to put some of the research on the back burner. But at the same time, I know how important it is, especially now.” Lewis said some important research projects could come out of the COVID-19 crisis, such as exploring the wide differences in how people feel about preventive measures. “If we want people to understand why we’re asking them to stand six feet away from each other and wear masks and limit contact with their families and friends, we need to do a really good job of explaining it,” she said.
Adam Bliss, DNP’20, said his ethical code was strengthened along with his leadership skills as he worked with Erik Garcia, MD, assistant professor of family medicine & community health, to support Worcester’s homeless population during the pandemic. Dr. Bliss received the Chancellor’s Award at the GSN commencement on May 31. Bliss had been working with Family Health Center of Worcester’s Homeless Outreach and Advocacy Program after becoming a nurse practitioner in August 2019, helping people with addiction, primary care and mental health services. After Gov. Charlie Baker ordered no more than 25 people in a building space, in mid-March, Bliss became alarmed. “The shelter system in Worcester is very overcrowded,” he said. The Queen Street SMOC Shelter has 25 to 30 beds but sees 130 people a night. “There’s no way to distance with that much crowding.”
“If we want people to understand why we’re asking them to stand six feet away from each other and wear masks and limit contact with their families and friends, we need to do a really good job of explaining it.” JOANNE LEWIS, PhD’20, ACNP-BC
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Bliss worked with city officials to open three additional satellite shelters to spread people out and co-led with Dr. Garcia a team to open a medical shelter at Worcester Technical High School. The shelter later moved to the DCU field hospital. “We found a lot of our patients were asymptomatically infected and would have continued to infect other residents at the shelter. It made me value even more the population I was working with,” said Bliss, who no longer takes having a safe, comfortable home for granted. “And it also made me realize how vulnerable my population is.” “COVID-19 impacted the class of 2020 as many of them were caring for these infected patients or other patients and had the added stresses of social isolation and fear of infecting their friends and family,” said GSN Dean Joan Vitello. “In addition, they had scholarly projects to complete and to present. Despite these significant challenges all of them overcame their individual hurdles to successfully graduate. We are so very proud of them.” Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences “It’s like everything turned upside down,” said Mona Motwani, PhD’20. Dr. Motwani, who received the GSBS Dean’s Award, worked over the years in “a race against time” on a competitive autoimmune and inflammatory diseases study, in the lab of Katherine A. Fitzgerald, PhD, the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair, professor of medicine, vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine and director of the Program in Innate Immunity.
Motwani started looking for industry jobs in January and received several offers, which she rejected because they weren’t quite the right fit. When businesses started shutting down, she got nervous. Ultimately, her plans worked out. A few weeks later, she accepted a position as a senior scientist at the pharmaceutical firm Sanofi. But Motwani said the shutdowns and hiring freezes surrounding the global pandemic “shook my confidence a little bit.” Motwani was the first in her department to defend her dissertation online over Zoom, an experience her chairman practiced along with her to work out logistics. She was disappointed that her parents in India couldn’t share her celebratory moments in person, but she sent them video clips. She also missed being able to thank in person her mentors and all the people “who directly built this community around me.” Motwani said, “It’s very humbling that we tend to think months and years ahead and we’ve tried to plan our lives. But one thing can just change everything and have a trickle-down effect on so many different levels.” Gordon Lockbaum, PhD’20, also defended online his thesis on structure-based drug design in viral proteases, which he worked on with Celia Schiffer, PhD, the Gladys Smith Martin Chair in Oncology, professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology, and director of the Institute for Drug Resistance at UMMS.
His work was hindered when campus largely shut down and he couldn’t work in the lab. All nonessential graduate students were barred from the lab unless they petitioned for early re-entry. Dr. Lockbaum entered the industry job market just as corporate hiring freezes and cessation of networking events caused by the pandemic upended that path. Instead, he accepted a postdoctorate position in the Schiffer lab, researching inhibiting the two viral proteases that coronavirus has. Lockbaum said he was grateful for the opportunity to continue working with his mentor, but plans to explore industry again as the job market settles. “I assumed that I would finish up, I would get some job interviews and offers, and, you know, start my life,” Lockbaum said. “But things have changed.” GSBS Dean Mary Ellen Lane said at commencement on May 31, “While many of us will never have a direct role in neutralizing coronavirus, or treating COVID-19 patients, or ensuring that care and treatment are distributed equitably, we all have a role to play in holding ourselves, our families, our communities together as we face this uncertain future, in pushing through paralyzing grief and fear to figure out how to do the things that we never thought could be done.” “We’ve seen that preparedness is important. We’ve seen the ability to care is important. We’ve seen the ability to create treatments is important,” Chancellor Collins said about the impact of the pandemic on the Medical School community. “And we’re learning in real time.” ■
By Susan E.W. Spencer
@UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 13
Targeting a coronavirus O
n the afternoon of March 12, Bruno Miguel da Cruz Godinho, PhD, sent an email to his colleagues in the Khvorova lab with the subject line “RNAi versus coronavirus.” The email didn’t contain much: the lab’s most advanced chemistries at the time and a link to a paper published only a few days earlier in Nature identifying two potential genetic targets that might slow SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Anastasia Khvorova PhD, had a simple, four-word reply for her 25-person lab: “We can do it.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
14 | 2020
“
to patients. They’re too fragile and unstable. Plus, there’s the challenge of getting these molecules to the tissues where they are needed and nowhere else. If too many siRNAs or ASOs find their way ANASTASIA KHVOROVA, PhD into the wrong cell types, they might cause unintended or off-target chemical scaffolds that support complications. delivery of robust quantities of Khvorova and colleagues identify siRNAs and ASOs to the heart, chemical and biological properties kidneys, muscle, placenta, that allow effective and efficient vasculature and brain—tissues delivery, distribution, retention, previously not reached by RNAi. cellular uptake and biological Last year, Dr. Godinho, a availability of small RNA molecules postdoctoral associate in Khvorova’s to specific tissue cells. Maximizing lab, and his colleagues discovered the efficiency of these properties a new class of gene-silencing RNAs is crucial to developing successful he christened Di-siRNA. Godinho RNAi therapeutics. By screening a et al. developed the chemical wide range of chemically engineered scaffold, which consists of two and naturally occurring bioactive siRNA molecules connected through conjugates, they identify novel
We are fortunate. We are the right people in the right place at the right time.
ROB CARLIN PHOTOGRAPHY
Developing an RNAi therapeutic for a virus, however, has never been done. It involves sequencing DNA; performing bioinformatics and designing a chemical scaffold for delivering a drug; animal testing; clinical trials; and drug production. To create an RNAi-based treatment for SARS-CoV-2, the Khvorova lab would be stepping outside its normal area of expertise, embarking on a complete bench-to-clinic research trajectory, while trying to do it in record time. “It’s like trying to fly the plane while you’re building it,” said Dr. Khvorova, the Remondi Family Chair in Biomedical Research and professor of RNA therapeutics and molecular medicine. Co-discovered by 2006 Nobel Laureate and UMMS Professor of RNA Therapeutics Craig Mello, PhD, RNAi is a natural molecular process inside cells. It uses small RNA molecules to halt the translation of genes into proteins. These molecules, such as small interfering RNAs (siRNA) and antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), effectively turn the gene off by stopping the protein building machinery inside the cell—a process scientists call silencing. Scientists, such as Khvorova and Jonathan K. Watts, PhD, associate professor of RNA therapeutics and biochemistry & molecular pharmacology, seek to turn this natural cellular phenomenon into a powerful therapeutic for treating human disease. “Theoretically, the power of RNAi is that it allows for the quick design and development of drugs,” said Khvorova. “Once you’ve unlocked the chemical scaffold for efficiently delivering therapeutic doses of siRNA or ASOs to the right tissue, all you need is the right genetic sequence to target. It would be the perfect platform for addressing future pandemics because it would be plug-and-play.” The molecules that drive RNAi, however, can’t simply be delivered
Left to right, Daniel O'Reilly, PhD, Pranathi Meda Krishnamurthy and Minwook Shin, PhD, of the Khorova lab @UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 15
Anastasia Khvorova, PhD
a neutral linker, which enabled broad distribution throughout the nervous system and correct genetic mutations in neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s. This breakthrough earned Godinho, who holds a Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship from the ALS Association, the honor of being named one of STAT’s 2019 Wunderkinds and a Dr. Alan M. Gewirtz Memorial Scholar. Single gene mutations, such as those that cause ALS or Huntington’s, are the focus of the Khvorova lab. These types of diseases are more clearly defined than illnesses caused by viruses, thus designing a therapeutic is relatively straight forward, explained Daniel O’Reilly, PhD, postdoctoral associate in the lab who works on oligonucleotide chemistry. “COVID-19, any type of infectious disease really, isn’t in the scope of what we normally do in the lab,” said Dr. O’Reilly. “That’s the beauty of RNAi, though. You can almost always do something with it.” One of the first steps for the lab was to identify highly conserved areas of SARS-CoV-2. These are regions of the virus DNA that are relatively stable and do not often mutate as it replicates when moving
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Jonathan K. Watts, PhD
from cell to cell and person to person. The first DNA sequence of SARS-CoV-2 became available on Jan. 12. This was a critical first step to developing an RNAi therapeutic. Without the viral sequences to plug and play into scientists’ vision of an RNAi platform, there could be no drug. Kathryn Monopoli, a first-year graduate student pursuing her PhD through a joint program with Worcester Polytechnic Institute, wrote a bioinformatics program to scan and analyze the SARS-CoV-2 sequence for these critical conserved areas in a single day. Pre-COVID, such a project would have taken months to complete. Her work, said Khvorova, identified three highly conserved stretches of the virus’ DNA that were ideal targets for an RNAi drug. That same day, members of the team began synthesizing these stretches of sequences so the lab could begin running experiments. Across the hall from Khvorova in the Albert Sherman Center, the Watts lab works at the interface of synthetic chemistry and biomedicine, studying the modulation of gene expression in cells and organisms. Like Khvorova, he studies how siRNAs and ASOs can be therapeutically delivered to
various tissue types, including the lungs. “The lung has a whole different set of properties than the brain,” said Dr. Watts. “One of the biggest challenges to delivering any therapy to the lung is the immune response. In the brain you don’t have that problem, but the lungs are constantly under assault and are an immune hotspot.” As luck would have it, the Di-siRNA scaffold that Godinho discovered during his research on Huntington’s disease also proved effective in the lungs, without triggering an immune response. “We really hit the jackpot there,” said Annabelle Biscans, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the Khvorova lab. Working together, the Watts and Khvorova labs designed a new chemical scaffold that can deliver both Di-siRNA and ASOs to a cell at the same time with the same chemistry. This had never been done before. The advantage of this approach, according to Godinho, is that siRNAs mostly silence transcription in the cytoplasm of the cell, while ASOs, besides working in the cytoplasm, also achieve silencing in the nucleus. This dual approach for gene silencing makes it more likely to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 at lower thresholds. “The beauty of our collaboration with the Watts lab is that we’re able to tap into scientists who are experts in both siRNA and ASO chemistries,” said Dr. Biscans, the project’s lead biochemist who spearheaded the lab work. “The chemistry is so important. If we don’t build the right drug with the right chemistry, then it won’t be strong enough or efficient enough to successfully treat the illness.” UMMS halted normal research operations on March 13. While lab projects on campus didn’t completely stop, scientists
The right people in the right place Khvorova and Watts are among a growing list of principal investigators at UMass Medical School researching SARS-CoV-2 with the goal of expanding our understanding of the novel coronavirus so new vaccines or treatments can be developed. Ann M. Moormann PhD, MPH, professor of medicine and an epidemiologist who normally studies malaria in Kenya, is conducting a longitudinal study of health care workers, patients and UMMS employees. Taking serology and venous blood samples from these populations, she is testing not just for antibodies but for the presence of other immune cells such as dendritic cells, T cells and natural killer cells, all of which play important and different roles in protecting the body from viral attacks. “We’re doing global health at home now,” Dr. Moormann said. One of the chief questions Moormann hopes to answer is how long SARS-CoV-2 antibodies persist after the infection has been cleared. She is also exploring the extent to which exposure to other pathogens, such as the coronavirus that causes the common cold, does or does not confer protection. “That’s a real question right now,” said Moormann. “Once you’ve had the virus, we don’t know how long those antibodies will hang around. Will it be for eight months or eight years?” Another important quest is whether B and T cells, the memory cells of the immune system, will retain information about the SARS-CoV-2 virus after infection. If they do, the body would be able to mount a quicker and more robust antibody response to future infections. This means future outbreaks or infection would be far less severe than what has been seen during the initial pandemic.
Ann M. Moormann, PhD, MPH
she is collecting. Moormann and colleagues will also be able to expose these naïve cells to COVID-19 in cell cultures and analyze how they respond to the novel coronavirus. “Once we understand how the immune system responds to the virus, we can begin building smarter vaccines and treatments,” said Moormann. “Science has to go beyond what the human immune system does. It’s not enough to just trigger an immune response using an attenuated form of the virus. We have to be smarter than both the virus and the immune system.” Moormann’s work is being funded by The Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness (MassCPR), a multi-institutional initiative convened by Harvard Medical School to combat the global COVID-19 pandemic and to prepare for future outbreaks. In March, the consortium awarded $16.5 million in research funding to projects that address the most pressing challenges of the disease. Moormann was one of three UMMS researchers to receive this funding. For information about additional research related to SARS-CoV-2 being conducted at UMMS, visit umassmed.edu/coronavirus/research.
In order to analyze the immune system’s response to COVID-19, Moormann is drawing upon a collection of prepandemic serology samples she collected as part of her work on malaria. These COVID-19 naïve cells are being compared to post-pandemic serology samples
@UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 17
Things just started to snowball. CHANTAL M. FERGUSON MD/PhD STUDENT IN THE KHVOROVA LAB
were analyzing data, designing experiments and writing papers from home. A handful of labs, including the Khvorova and Watts labs, were granted permission to continue operating on COVID-19 research. “When we were first granted access back to the lab, none of us knew how it was going to go,” said Ken Yamada, PhD, postdoctoral associate in the Khvorova lab. “We didn’t know how COVID-19 was going to affect access to the building and our ability to do experiments.” O’Reilly added, “At first, there were a lot of logistical issues. How would
18 | 2020
we stand six feet apart? How would sharing equipment work?” Dr. Yamada and O’Reilly, who both design the chemistry for the siRNAs and ASOs and conduct biochemical experiments on these designs, began working in shifts for safety. Others, such as Pranathi Meda Krishnamurthy, a research associate and biochemist in the Watts lab and mother to a 6-year-old son, began working longer shifts to minimize the number of times she had to travel between the lab and home. “I didn’t want to potentially expose my family any more than I had to,” she said.
ROB CARLIN PHOTOGRAPHY
“
We have expertise from chemists, pharmacologists, biologists and bioinformaticians, and each group is invested and interested in the work of the others, making the environment extremely fun, interesting and innovative.
Chantal M. Ferguson
The shutdown also had unintended benefits. Scientists who might otherwise be working on their own projects were freed up to work on COVID-19. Reagents were available for experiments and lab instruments that might be shared between projects were now dedicated to COVID-19 because it was the only research going on on campus. The project was able to move forward quickly because scientists had access to more resources to work on COVID-19, explained Chantal M. Ferguson, MD/PhD student in the Khvorova lab. “We were really able to build momentum,” she said. “We have expertise from chemists, pharmacologists, biologists and bioinformaticians, and each group is invested and interested in the work of the others, making the environment extremely fun, interesting and innovative. Things just started to snowball,” said Ferguson.
The financial support of the Medical School was also crucial to generating progress. Drawing from institutional dollars available for research, the Medical School lent $1 million to the Khvorova and Watts labs so they could begin working immediately. The expectation is that as grant funding for COVID-19 flows to these labs, the funds will be reimbursed to the institution. “It’s not typical for an investigator to make a phone call to leadership and that same day have $1 million for research,” said Khvorova. “UMass Medical School is unique. This isn’t the type of research you can just do in the garage. The leadership has strategically invested resources, tens of millions of dollars, over the years, building new facilities and purchasing equipment, that have put us in a position to capitalize on this moment.” The result of this strategic investment in resources is that the Khvorova and Watts labs are ready to try their best chemistries and targets in nonhuman primates. They have three chemical scaffolds poised for preclinical tests against both viral and host cell targets, including the ACE2 receptor identified in the Nature paper that prompted Godinho’s original email. Some of these drugs will be delivered locally to the lungs through a nebulizer while others will be delivered systemically through injection. This truncated timeline, however, creates additional challenges for scientists. Normally researchers would spend years meticulously working to answer basic biological questions about the virus, host cells and the biochemistry of the drugs. “We have one shot to get this right in order to have a short-term impact on COVID treatment,” said Watts. “We have a good number of cocktails and sequences that work in cells. We’re
Bruno Miguel da Cruz Godinho, PhD
collecting as much information as we can on these to help make the best decisions about which ones to take into the nonhuman primates.” Even if their first attempt doesn’t yield the expected results, chemically modified siRNAs are informational drugs—the base sequence determines its target RNA, while the chemical architecture dictates pharmacokinetic behavior— allowing siRNAs or ASOs and chemical structures to be easily reprogrammed to target any gene sequence. “I think there’s a silent revolution happening,” said Khvorova. “The pandemic has just accelerated the development, but it was going to happen anyway. We are fortunate. We are the right people in the right place at the right time. If you ask me, five years from now, will this research lead to a new platform for responding to pandemics, will we be able to respond quickly and efficiently to the next pandemic using RNAi as a therapeutic, the answer will be 100 percent yes.” ■ By Jim Fessenden
@UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 19
Auxiliary fighters UMMS students organize volunteer initiatives to help front line staff during coronavirus pandemic
A
s the novel coronavirus swept the world, health care workers formed the front line in the war on COVID-19 and UMass Medical School students forged their own volunteer brigade to contribute. A rapidly formed volunteer student task force fitted more than 1,000 health care workers for respirators, trained 800 physicians and staff on how to connect with patients through video conferencing, and coordinated health care for 5,000 Worcester Free Care Collaborative patients. These School of Medicine and
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences students issued a call to action in mid-March, when the pandemic emptied schools— including UMass Medical School— and businesses and began filling hospital beds. “A group of students designed a COVID-19 task force right around the time UMass Medical School moved to remote working and learning,” said Sean Teebagy, SOM ’23, co-leader of the task force. “We found a means to come together, form a system, combine our thoughts and
make an impact.”
@UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 21
Top: In amphitheater from right, SOM students Calvin Schaffer, Elya Reznichenko and Olivia Sears, with Emma Cammann on computer, prepare clinical staff to use telehealth services. Middle: MD/PhD student Peter Cruz-Gordillo in the lab preparing hand sanitizer for local hospital use. Bottom: SOM student Sean Teebagy loading PPE from the task force’s collection efforts to distribute to local hospitals.
22 | 2020
Within days of the new initiative, students mobilized to collect PPE for health care providers across the Worcester area. The group rounded up more than 30 volunteers, reaching out to every area resource they could identify to get donations. With the help of both UMMS and local labs, as well as the Office of Student Life, the group gathered nearly 1,500 N95 masks and more than 20,000 pairs of gloves in five days. “In the beginning of our efforts, we treated it as a sprint. It clearly turned into a marathon,” Teebagy said. “We realized that we needed to carefully think out our initiatives while keeping things moving.” Each project had to receive administrative approval before it was executed, requiring the students to work closely with their faculty advisors. The team’s PPE collection efforts were done under the guidance of Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medical Education, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the School of Medicine. “Our guiding principles have been to maximize the safety of our student volunteers, while providing opportunities for them to channel their tremendous enthusiasm to be a positive force for good in our community,” said Dean Flotte. “As these efforts have gone on, I have been impressed by the unselfishness and leadership skills of our amazing students.” The team pushed forward. A flow of ideas continued in the weeks following PPE collection, as the effort generated interest from more student volunteers. Virtual meetings once a week and a shared online document kept members informed, maintaining an organized platform for projects and outreach ideas. Timothy Winn, SOM ’22, a member of the UMMS Student Body Committee, also served as a task force co-leader, and helped organize
another fundamental project, helping clinicians properly fit their respirators. “Forty volunteers stepped up within a few hours of the project kicking off,” said Winn. “We held a Zoom training with Environmental Health and Safety, who taught the students how to properly fit the respirators. By the end of two weeks, we had more than 1,000 clinicians fitted. It was humbling to know these essential workers would go to their COVID-19 floors with safe protection.” “It was important for us to create projects that facilitate the work of health care professionals and benefit their wellbeing and mental health. Even one small gesture can have a major impact,” said Calvin Schaffer, SOM ’23, a task force co-leader. Working in partnership with co-leader Elya Reznichenko, SOM ’22, the task force maintained an ongoing project called “Snacks for Staff,” collecting hundreds of food boxes for employees at UMass Memorial Medical Center. “These are people who can’t always run out for a break when they need one. They were so grateful,” Schaffer said. Fostering initiatives outside of Central Massachusetts, Schaffer and fellow students on the PURCH track (Population-based Urban and Rural Community Health) organized a number of projects that supported the Springfield community, such as addressing PPE shortages, food access and senior center outreach. Prioritizing the dire need for supplies at medical facilities, six GSBS students made roughly 265 gallons of hand sanitizer in April to sustain local hospitals. The project was led by MD/PhD candidates Peter Cruz-Gordillo and Tomás Rodríguez, in conjunction with Environmental Health and Safety and Environmental Building Services.
“Hand sanitizer is expensive at a time like this, and we were able to bring it down to a quarter of the cost,” said Rodriguez. “We held several rounds of production and are pleased that we could contribute something that staff need to use regularly. It didn’t take long for our group to recognize the problem, and join forces to pitch in.” Telehealth, an online system allowing live-video conferences for medical appointments, became vital as the virus made in-person office visits nearly impossible. A group of SOM students on the task force taught clinicians how to use telehealth. In April, the group trained roughly 80 student volunteers, who then trained more than 800 administrators and providers from more than 60 UMass Memorial Health Care clinical sites. “We trained the administrators to download the application, so they were equipped to show patients how to use it,” said Schaffer. “It took a lot of flexibility on our end due to lots of technical issues, but we made it happen. We got an educational
experience out of it while knowing we were benefiting providers.” The Worcester Free Care Collaborative, a coalition of free clinics providing basic health care to low-income and uninsured residents, also became reliant on telehealth to
“This is going to be a meaningful learning experience for them, shaping them into the strong medical professionals they will be in the future.” MARK MICELI, EdD
serve patients. Each site is staffed by volunteer nurses and physicians, as well as UMMS students who help with organization and management. Mina Botros, SOM ’23, is co-president of the collaborative. He and the other collaborative leaders created
Members of the UMMS and Worcester communities participate in a ‘Zoomathon’ fundraiser to support UMass Memorial’s DCU field hospital.
a system for student volunteers to organize telehealth consultations, assist in managing patient files and continue providing care. “We started a patient outreach project where we collected close to 5,000 patient charts. Our team of about 40 student volunteers would go through the charts and figure out what medications and follow-up the patients needed, and any possible treatments coming up. From there, we would call the patients to check in, and let them know we were ready to support them,” Botros said. A similar initiative organized by Kristina Jakobson, SOM ’23, and Sara Carbone, SOM ’22, recruited students to make calls to senior citizens through the Worcester Senior Center. They expanded their outreach to Springfield’s senior center as well, working closely with students on the PURCH track. “Students pursuing medical careers want to be involved in any shape or form when it comes to patients. The geriatric population is the most vulnerable right now, and we thought this would be manageable since we would not be in person, putting them at risk,” said Jakobson. “We made calls to seniors who are isolated and live alone. We checked in, made sure they had access to food and medication, or had other nonessential health concerns. It was very efficient; we paired 30 students with 30 seniors and made about 80 calls in April alone,” said Carbone. Mark Miceli, EdD, assistant vice provost for student life and director of student affairs for the SOM, served as a liaison between the student task force and administrators. “Their energy was powerful right from the beginning. This proved to be a meaningful learning experience for them, helping shape them into the strong medical professionals they will be in the future,” Miceli said. ■ By Kylee Denesha
@UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 23
Philanthropic support totaling $3 million driving COVID-19 research “I am grateful for the generous contributions from our donors and encourage those who can give to support the important work that is being done at UMass Medical School.� KATHERINE FITZGERALD, PhD
24 | 2020
I
n the dramatic push to conquer the virus that causes COVID-19, donors and foundations from near and far have contributed nearly $3 million to faculty research labs at UMass Medical School to support efforts to understand and eventually treat the pandemic-causing novel coronavirus. “Many researchers at the Medical School pivoted their research to COVID-19, highlighting the unprecedented need that this pandemic poses,” said Katherine Fitzgerald, PhD, chair of a review committee that evaluated proposals for funding from a new pandemic research fund. “I am grateful for the generous contributions from our donors and encourage those who can give to support the important work that is being done at UMass Medical School.” More than $650,000 in donations were unrestricted, affording UMMS the much-needed flexibility to support initiatives quickly. Researchers from across the Medical School responded with 41 proposals, ranging from establishing new
animal models for studying the virus, to investigating antiviral agents and understanding how the immune systems responds to the novel invader. “The quantity and quality of the applications were impressive,” said Dr. Fitzgerald, the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, and director of the Program in Innate Immunity. “The science presented was high quality. The grants were creative and exciting.” A panel of seven reviewers across multiple departments evaluated proposals and scored them based on scientific merit and relevance to advancing understanding of SARSCoV-2 and COVID-19. Priority was given to those who had not received other recent pilot grants. Ultimately, 13 projects received funding from this unrestricted fund. The pilot grants are being used to support salaries and pay for supplies needed to gather preliminary
data on SARS-CoV-2. “The goal of these pilots was to provide funds for immediate work on COVID-19,” said Fitzgerald. “This will advance the science to a position where investigators are able to apply for NIH or foundation funding armed with some preliminary data.” Among the projects funded are strategies for active and passive immunotherapy design; a new core for modeling COVID-19 disease; and projects to look at stem-cell derived therapies, cross-reactivity of COVID-19, protease inhibitors, inflammation and acquisition of immunity. Other COVID-19 related programs benefitting from philanthropic support include an ambitious clinical trial of convalescent plasma, using antibodies recovered from the blood of people who have survived COVID-19 as a therapeutic for patients with severe COVID-19 disease, and programs to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable and at-risk communities, such as children in foster care. ■
Supporters who generously contributed $25,000 or more to support COVID research at UMMS include: C. F. Adams Charitable Trust
Mary C. DeFeudis
The George I. Alden Trust
Greater Worcester Community Foundation
American Heart Association
Rob and Donna Manning and the MFS Chairman’s Charitable Fund Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness
Harrington Discovery Institute Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Antonellis The Bassick Family Foundation The Boston Foundation The Dacier Family in loving memory of Johnnie Ray Cox
Robert and Ardis James Foundation
The G. Harold & Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation Remillard Family Foundation
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust Lookout Foundation @UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 25
lastword
FAITH NINIVAGGI
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Michael F. Collins, MD Chancellor and Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences
26 | 2020
s an academic community, we derive meaning from and coalesce around our foundational mission to educate the next generation of health sciences leaders—the caregivers, investigators, innovators and pioneers in medicine, biomedical science and nursing. So much of what we do at our medical school, from our programs and infrastructure to our strategic planning and institutional investments, ties directly back to our core educational mandate. This is especially true for our world-renowned research enterprise, since we develop, attract and retain great scientists in large measure on the strength, success and vibrancy of our academic environment. When the full extent and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic came sharply into focus in March, the essence of who we are as an academic community was at stake. We were forced to make one of the most complex, difficult and disruptive decisions any of us in leadership positions have had to contemplate, let alone execute: to ramp down, in a matter of days, all but truly essential on-campus research programs and to arrange for thousands to work and learn remotely. All of this was unprecedented and, we hope, will never again be needed. Our guiding priority was the safety of our students, staff and faculty. The ramping down process was particularly complex considering the breadth of our research support infrastructure—computer servers, HVAC systems, delicate reagents, hazardous materials, sensitive equipment and numerous model organisms, including our internationally renowned colony of research mice. Still, we had a campus to operate. Students had exams and thesis defenses; faculty had grades to give, grant deadlines to meet, publication edits to make and critical experiments to perform. Our fourth-year medical students were preparing for their match, when they would find out where they would go for residency training. Many of our nursing students and faculty balanced their academic and professional responsibilities, working as nurses, preceptors and practitioners in health care facilities. Professional employees in Commonwealth Medicine and
lastword MassBiologics were performing time-sensitive tasks that couldn’t simply be put on hold. Most sobering of all, like our peers at other institutions facing similar circumstances, we were operating with limited and often imperfect information that added complexity to the decision-making process. Despite the urgency and uncertainty of that moment, we were fortunate to navigate our way forward. Over a period of days, we transformed significant parts of the curriculum for all three of our graduate schools to remote learning; we suspended experiments; froze laboratory materials; sourced, formatted and distributed hundreds of remote computers; accumulated cleaning supplies; and changed schedules, roles, responsibilities and routines for 6,000 students and staff and faculty members. We went from planning a commencement on the Campus Green to planning a commencement via Zoom. And in a profoundly moving display of professionalism and selflessness, more than 130 new physicians graduated two months early to enter a health care workforce that by then was facing a surge of COVID cases. The Medical School campus was almost eerily quiet, but our mission continued unabated. In fact, nearly two dozen of our research laboratories pivoted from prepandemic experiments to COVIDfocused research projects; infection control, environmental health and safety, facilities and the leadership of the three schools moved from ramping down to strategizing how to ramp back up safely. Admissions successfully managed a virtual process to admit new classes for the fall, where learners and faculty members implemented new methods of teaching and learning. COVID testing began for those returning to campus to study, work and teach.
In a testament to the tremendous dedication of our faculty, new grant funding increased. As of the fall of 2020, we are advancing more than two dozen externally funded research projects, including clinical trials, aimed squarely at the COVID pandemic—a field that simply did not exist mere months ago. We have returned all of our students, many of our faculty and more than 1,000 staff members to active teaching and learning, supported by a weekly COVID surveillance testing program that keeps us safe and informed. The pandemic has taught us many important lessons, but there are two impactful observations that must guide our thinking going forward. First, the world requires us to be nimble and resilient. We need to ensure that hard-won knowledge is used to shape our planning and inform our future. Fortunately, our IMPACT 2025 strategic plan has been constructed as a roadmap for a flexible approach to the furtherance of our mission. Second, this pandemic has demonstrated to us that science is the essential ingredient required to beat this virus and preserve the world as we know it. The investments the U.S. has made in our national research apparatus over the last quarter century have, thus far through the pandemic, kept our global community largely intact. What is needed now is a substantial and strategic investment for the future. Science boosts hope, science bolsters health and science brings results. Now, more than ever, we need hope, health and results. Science will see us through this pandemic, bring hope to the human condition and set us on our future path to progress in the years ahead. ■
Science will see us through this pandemic, bring hope to the human condition and set us on our future path to progress in the years ahead.
@UMASSMED MAGAZINE | 27
@umassmed @umassmed is the magazine of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, one of five campuses of the UMass system. The magazine is distributed periodically to members, benefactors and friends of the UMMS community. It is published by the Office of Communications. Readers are invited to comment on the contents of the magazine, via email to ummscommunications@umassmed.edu; please include “@umassmed 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 School of Medicine: Terence R. Flotte, MD Vice Chancellor for Communications: Jennifer Berryman Editor: Mark L. Shelton Managing Editor: Ellie Castano Writers: Ellie Castano, Michael Cohen, Kylee Denesha, Jim Fessenden, Lisa Larson, Mark Shelton, Susan Spencer Design and illustration: Daniel Lambert
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