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| Deborah Harmon Hines, PhD |
Deborah Harmon Hines, PhD, vice provost for school services, is being recognized for her “invaluable service on behalf of the people of Liberia.”
The Liberian Episcopal Community in the United States will honor Dr. Hines, professor of cell & developmental biology, during its 10th Annual Gathering in Newark, N.J., on April 10.
Hines said she was surprised by the recognition for doing what she presumes people are supposed to do for one another.
“If anyone has benefited from anything I’ve done, I’m happy,” Hines said, adding that she considers her work in Liberia and the greater Worcester community as part of an adventure, one through which she sought answers to questions as a scientist.
“Deborah Harmon Hines is extremely deserving of this recognition,” 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. “Her entire career as a teacher, mentor, colleague and volunteer has been marked by a dedication to a larger, common good and our students, our community and indeed, the world, have benefitted from her commitment to helping others achieve and excel.”
Hines is known for being a mentor and advocate for students, faculty and staff from underrepresented backgrounds. In 2013, she received the Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in Diversity, for her tireless work to enhance the diversity of the campus and health services workforce through support of initiatives such as the summer undergraduate research program and the Worcester Pipeline Collaborative.
Hines first traveled to Liberia in 1979 to visit friends she’d met through students at Meharry Medical College in Nashville. She returned to the country in 1999 as a member of the Liberian Covenant Committee, a partnership between the Episcopal Church in the United States and in Liberia, and encountered a vastly different landscape, devastated by years of civil war. For the next 11 years, she traveled extensively throughout the country for the committee.
In 2011, she returned to Liberia, this time on behalf of UMass Medical School to serve as a visiting professor of anatomy at the Dogliotti Medical School in Monrovia. She expects to return to the country in the fall to resume her position as visiting professor.
