The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees voted to approve one new endowed chair at UMass Chan Medical School and the appointment of two accomplished faculty members to endowed chairs.
Sharon B. Cantor, PhD, professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology, has been appointed to the Gladys Smith Martin Chair in Oncology, an endowment to support a faculty member whose research is focused on preventing, treating and curing cancer.
Dr. Cantor’s groundbreaking research has led to new pathways for science and medicine to understand drug-resistant breast and ovarian cancers. A series of discoveries made by Cantor and her lab provides mechanistic insight to effectively treat cancers, limit the development of chemoresistance and define clinically significant biomarkers for identifying treatable tumors. With three active R01 grants, she leads a highly active lab; serves as an enthusiastic and sought-after PhD advisor; has served as a longtime member of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences faculty diversity committee; and, in 2015, was recognized with the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education. Cantor has been on the faculty at UMass Chan since 2003; she earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, her doctorate from Tufts University and completed postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School.
Andres Schanzer, MD, professor of surgery and population & quantitative health sciences and chief of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery in the Department of Surgery, is the inaugural holder of the Cutler Chair in Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, which will provide ongoing support to the research, teaching and clinical work of this division chief.
Dr. Schanzer joined UMass Chan in 2007 after completing a vascular surgery fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and, in the years since, has held several key medical education and society leadership posts. But he is perhaps best known as one of the nation’s leading clinical experts on the expansion and rigorous evaluation of endovascular therapies for complex aortic disease, contributions that earned him the role of director of UMass Memorial’s Center for Complex Aortic Disease. He also leads the United States Aortic Research Consortium. His work in the operating room is bolstered by an exceptional record of scholarly achievement. He serves as the principal investigator of the Complex Aortic Repair using Physician Modified Endografts and Custom-Made Devices (CARPE-CMD) trial, a physician-sponsored investigational device exemption study, and numerous other clinical trials. He earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his MD from New York University School of Medicine, and completed his residency training at University of California at Davis Medical Center.
The Cutler Chair in Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, which was also approved in an affirmative vote by the University’s Board, was made possible through the commitment of significant funds by Bruce S. Cutler, MD, UMass Chan professor of surgery emeritus and former chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery, and his wife, Leslie. The Cutlers’ generous contribution enhanced an already-existing endowed vascular surgery fund.
Their achievements will be celebrated at Convocation and Investiture ceremonies in September 2023.
