Photo: John Gillooly
A special investiture ceremony at UMass Chan Medical School on Wednesday, Nov. 20, celebrated the establishment of eight newly endowed chairs and the esteemed faculty appointed to hold them.
Among them are five new UMass Memorial Health endowed chairs, made possible through the long-standing partnership between UMass Memorial Health and UMass Chan and a $5 million philanthropic gift from UMass Memorial with $2.5 million in matching funds from the University of Massachusetts Foundation.
“Endowed chairs are incredibly important and highly coveted designations that enable us to recruit, retain and recognize the myriad and profoundly impactful contributions of our faculty. It has indeed been inspiring to observe how our strategic focus on expanding the number of endowed faculty positions has resulted in incredible gains for our institution,” said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, in his opening remarks.
The new chairs bring UMass Chan’s total named faculty members to 75, including 25 women faculty members.
Photo: John Gillooly
Chancellor Michael F. Collins presented Eric Dickson, MD’95, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health, and Lynda Young, MD, chair of the UMass Memorial Medical Group Board, with five medallions representing the five UMass Memorial Health Endowed Chairs, as a token of UMass Chan’s gratitude for the investment made by UMass Memorial Health.
“With this most generous gift from UMass Memorial Health, enhanced by additional funds from the UMass Foundation, we honor highly accomplished senior physician leaders who bring their extraordinary talent to our institutions on behalf of the patients in Central Massachusetts and around the globe,” Chancellor Collins said.
Collins recognized the family of the late James Ledwith, MD, assistant professor of family medicine & community health, in the audience during the investiture ceremony. Dr. Ledwith died unexpectedly earlier this year. His daughter, Julia Scanlon, helped present the inaugural UMass Memorial Ledwith Chair in Family and Community Medicine to Diane McKee, MD, chair and professor of family medicine & community health.
“We celebrate and reinforce Dr. Ledwith’s enduring association to the academic department he contributed so much to as a senior clinical leader. We honor his life and legacy by having his name attached to the endowment reserved for the incumbent leader of his home department,” Collins said.
Photo: John Gillooly
Matthias Walz, MD, chair and professor of anesthesiology & perioperative medicine, was named to the UMass Memorial Kaur Chair in Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine. The endowed chair is Shubjeet Kaur, MD, the late former chair of anesthesiology & perioperative medicine who served as a leader at UMass Chan and UMass Memorial for 30 years and was a beloved colleague who left a legacy of passion for teaching and patient care.
Chancellor Collins recognized Dr. Kaur’s husband, Sanjaya Kumar, MD, and their two daughters; Simran and Shivani at the ceremony, noting that Shivani Kumar, MD, is a 2016 graduate of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine.
“The endowment is a great honor and a recognition of the work that has been done in the department, the work that has been done by my predecessors and recognition of the legacy of Dr. Kaur, who was a mentor to me and many of the people in our department,” Dr. Walz said. “She was an inspirational leader and it’s wonderful to have this endowment in her name and in our department, in perpetuity.”
The UMass Memorial endowed chairs are designed to support highly accomplished senior clinicians who have dual appointments at UMass Chan and UMass Memorial. The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees voted to approve the creation of the endowed chairs in September. UMass President Marty Meehan recognized Dr. Dickson, UMass Memorial Health and the UMass Foundation for the philanthropic gifts that made the new endowments possible.
“I applaud the UMass Chan team’s success in building a scientific community and setting a tone that puts our outstanding faculty and students front and center,” said President Meehan. “Collaboration, service and a deep commitment to excellence have helped define the UMass success story.”
The inaugural holders of the five new UMass Memorial Health chairs are:
A.M. Barrett, MD, chair and professor of neurology, was named the UMass Memorial Chair in Neurology. Since joining UMass Chan in 2022, Dr. Barrett has also served as chief of the Neurology Service at the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System. Her work as a physician-scientist brings together training in cognitive neurology and neuropsychology, neurology, medicine and brain injury.
Thomas J. FitzGerald, MD’80, chair and professor of radiation oncology, was named the UMass Memorial Chair in Radiation Oncology. Dr. FitzGerald has served as chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology since 2004 and has been one of the primary investigators for the Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core and the National Clinical Trials Network of the National Cancer Institute.
Diane McKee, MD, chair and professor of family medicine & community health since 2019, was named the inaugural holder of the UMass Memorial Ledwith Chair in Family and Community Medicine. Dr. McKee is engaged in each of UMass Chan’s mission areas and has given special attention to diversity and equity in the practice of family medicine, and to building primary care and community health research and scholarship.
Max P. Rosen, MD, MPH, chair and professor of radiology, was named the UMass Memorial Chair in Radiology. Dr. Rosen joined UMass Chan in 2012 from Beth Israel Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. During his tenure as chair, Rosen has nurtured and guided a vibrant, growing department with more than 90 radiologists, 40 scientists, several UMass Chan preclinical teaching faculty, and dozens of residents and fellows.
Matthias Walz, MD, chair and professor of anesthesiology & perioperative medicine, was named the UMass Memorial Kaur Chair in Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine. Dr. Walz has led the department since 2018 and helped spearhead the integration of health informatics into patient safety and research initiatives.
The inaugural holders of three new UMass Chan endowed chairs and faculty appointments:
Anil Chandraker, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Renal Medicine in the Department of Medicine, was named the inaugural holder of the Jack M. Wilson Chair in Biomedical Research. Prior to joining UMass Chan this year, Dr. Chandraker was associate professor at Harvard Medical School and medical director for kidney and pancreas transplantation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His lab investigates ways to regulate the immune response to transplanted organs and clinical complications that affect transplant patients.
Fernando Martinez, MD, MS, professor of medicine, academic chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine and inaugural vice chair for clinical and translational research in the Department of Medicine, was named the inaugural holder of the Joseph D. Early Chair in Biomedical Research. Dr. Martinez joined UMass Chan this year from Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital. He is a highly accomplished physician-scientist recognized for seminal studies in the phenotypic and functional classification and clinical interventions in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease.
Dorothy Schafer, PhD, associate professor of neurobiology, was named the inaugural holder of the UMass Chan Medical School Chair in Biomedical Research I. Dr. Schafer’s lab aims to understand how the immune and nervous systems interact to regulate the development and function of the nervous system in health and disease. Schafer made the first fundamental discovery that a resident immune cell of the brain, called microglia, is critical to shape developing brain circuits by removing excess neuronal synapses. More recently, her research team is investigating inflammatory signaling within brain circuits during neurodegenerative disease.
Additionally, the UMass Chan Medical School Chair in Biomedical Research II has been established and its inaugural holder will be announced at a later date.
