Office of Undergraduate Medical Education (OUME)
Staff Listed Alphabetically
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Colleen J. Burnham, MBAEducational Specialist III | FPE, CSD, OEE, 4th Year Electives
She is a proud 13th generation Mainer, has three amazing grown children (and 2 grandsons!), and is a past cornet player in Civil War Era Serenade bands. Personal websites include: Academic ePortfolio | Professional ePortfolio | Personal Blog |
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Pawel Stefan ChojnowskiEducation Program Specialist II In his free time, Pawel enjoys spending time with his friends and family, cooking, and watching movies. He loves to travel where he likes to pack light, only bringing a few changes of clothes and his trusty Sony camera. He tries to see as much as he can and to meet as many interesting people as possible to learn their stories. "The wide world is all about you: You can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out." —J.R.R. Tolkien |
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Manas Das, MD, MSAssociate Dean of Undergraduate Medical Education Dr. Das joined UMass Chan from the University of South Dakota in 2018 and has held instructional and educational leadership positions all over the world. He received his medical degree from Calcutta National Medical College, though he stopped practicing medicine to focus on his love of teaching. He is co-leader for the development, structure, and function (DSF) course for the MS1s and the organ system diseases (OSD) course for the MS2s, and in his Assistant Dean role will oversee and spearhead innovation throughout the biomedical pillar of our curriculum. Interacting with students is his true passion – he loves to teach! When not teaching, he travels, sings, listens to music, watches sports/TV/movies (several of his teaching sessions have references from 'Friends' or a Brad Pitt movie!), and cook. Finally, he is a believer of 'to err is human, forgive divine' and 'to live and let live.' |
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Deborah ElliottEducation Program Specialist II Deb joined the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education (OUME) in the early spring of 2024. She helps support the Research Pathways, FPE, P1 BWTC, and NSB courses. Previously, she was an Educational Coordinator in the Pathology Department at UMass Chan for over 16 years, supporting multiple first—and second—year medical school courses. For the last two years, she had transitioned to support Pathology PI's and pre & post-grant processing. Before UMass, Deb worked at Eastman Kodak Company for many years. In her free time, Deb enjoys camping, hiking, bike riding, reading on the beach, and spending time with her family and friends. |
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Paula Halligan, MEdEducational Program Specialist II Paula joined the OUME team in the summer of 2022. She received her undergraduate bachelor’s degree in science from the University of Vermont and a Master’s of Education from the University of California, Santa Cruz. For 20 years she taught secondary science for urban school districts in California, Colorado and most recently Worcester, Massachusetts. She worked with GBH Education and PBS Learning Media as an educator ambassador and curriculum advisor. Paula is passionate about environmental and animal conservation and spends most of her free time outdoors with her family and their dog. |
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Christopher IvesEducational Program Specialist II Chris is a U.S Army Veteran having served as an Airborne Combat Medic and Physical Therapy Technician before ending his service and moving to Massachusetts. After leaving the Army, Chris went to work at the U.S. Army Solider Systems Center, Natick, as a Data Integrity Specialist for the U.S. Army Procurement Division. He left that position to take full advantage of his G.I. Bill and received a B.A. (’15) and M.A. (’17), with a primary focus on Early American History and Public History, from Worcester State University. He comes to us after teaching at various private institutions throughout Massachusetts. In his free time, Chris is a world traveler and Phish follower who enjoys spending time with family and friends. “It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.” - Aesop |
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Gabriella KnightEducation Program Specialist I Gabriella joined the OUME team after working as a program assistant for an environmental non-profit organization. She received her bachelor’s degree in 2022 from Fitchburg State University where she majored in Educational Studies. She has experience working with students in public schools and supporting children and young adults with Autism Spectrum Diagnoses. She is excited to continue supporting students at UMass Chan Medical School. In her free time, Gabby enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling to new destinations, and spending time outdoors. |
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Malik LauderEducation Program Specialist I Malik graduated with a degree in Managerial Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2022. He previoulsy worked as a front desk associate at Autism Therapeutic Services where he honed his skills in customer service and administration. In his free time, he enjoys watching sports, playing video games, working out, and spending quality time with family and friends. |
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Adam MarowskiEducation Program Specialist II Adam joined the OUME team in 2022. He received a bachelor’s degree with a double major in Political Science and History from Suffolk University. In 2015 he worked at the Massachusetts State House for Senator Forry. Afterwards he has worked in various sales positions building up his interpersonal and communication skills. Adam is a New England Native from the Springfield area of Massachusetts. In his free time, Adam enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, studying history, working out, and playing video games. He aims to impact the world in a positive manner and bring joy to the ones around him. “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes” -Attitude by Charles Swindoll |
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Samantha MichaudAdministrative Coordinator II Samantha is a CT native and moved to Worcester, MA when she graduated college. She received a bachelor’s degree in 2019 from UConn with a major in Psychology and a minor in Gerontology. Samantha previously worked as a Mental Health Counselor for 3 years at Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital, as well as on the Adolescent Continuing Care Unit that is part of UMass Medical School. She transitioned to the role of Administrative Assistant in 2022 and has previous administrative experience. In her free time, Samantha enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, playing tennis, traveling, and trying new foods. |
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Therence NtihindukaEducation Program Specialist I Therence joined OUME team in 2022. Prior to joining UMass Chan OUME, he was working as the Program Facilitator at African Community Education. During his tenure at African Community Education, he oversaw creating math worksheets with practice problems and formulas to support the students with improving their math grades. He also did an internship at EMD Sereno worked with Patient Data Collection Services team. Between 2019 and 2022 he worked at Binienda Center for Civic as an Office Assistant. Therence is a graduate of Worcester State University, where he majored in Finance. In his free time, Therence like to check up on the stock market because investment is one of the things that he does. Also, he enjoys playing soccer as a way of excising and getting together with family and friends. |
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Patricia Seymour, MS, MDAssistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum Dr. Seymour is a UMass Chan Medical School graduate and graduated from the Worcester Family Medicine Residency Program, accepting a faculty position here after her graduation in 2010, so has been a part of the UMass Chan family for some time. Trish practices hospital medicine and perioperative medicine and serve's as her department's physician quality officer. She previously led the Family Medicine acting internship and oversees the quality and patient safety interstitial content. She is passionate about quality improvement education and serves as faculty co-lead of our interprofessional trainee quality council which includes fellows, residents and students from the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, and Mass College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Preparing future physicians is an ever-evolving process and Trish strives to address health equity and bias and to incorporate technology in UMass Chan's educational planning. When not seeing patients or working on curriculum, Trish enjoys anything outdoors and anything involving her four children including travel and hiking. |
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Mirela SkakaAdministrative Assistant III Mirela joined the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education department in July of 2021 after 18 years of experience as an Case Management Coordinator in the Workers Compensation Insurance. She received a degree in Business and Economics from the Tirana Agricultural University in Albania and has a certificate in client-server technology from WPI. She now supports Manas Das and Patricia Seymour, Assist in budget preparation and reconciliation. She also oversees our Summer Research and Curriculum Exploration Program, Clinical-Grade Turn-Around, Poster Sessions, and new upcoming projects as they develop. In her free time, Mirela enjoys being outdoors and spending time with family and friends. |
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Cassie Tortorici, C-TAGMEAdministrative Manager II Cassie graduated with a BA in English from Wagner College on Staten Island in 2007 and then spent a couple of years in graduate school at Wagner while continuing to work for and travel the country with the football and lacrosse teams. Being born and raised in Worcester, she returned home after graduate school. She began her UMass Chan career as the Residency Program Coordinator in Anesthesiology. After a few years, she moved up to the Office of Graduate Medical Education and was part of the MedHub implementation team. In her free time, Cassie is an actor, an avid vinyl record collector, and loves getting tattoos and seeing live music. She enjoys playing video games and cooking with her partner David, who also works at UMass Chan, and spoiling their senior dog, Lenore. |
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Jean M. Welker, MAEducation Program Specialist II Jean joined the OUME in 2019 after many years in the UMass Memorial Health Care and UMass Chan Medical School systems. Most recently, she worked as a project coordinator in the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society, managing the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) programs. Before that, Jean worked at UMMHC in the Center for Health and Fitness, working with employee wellness, cardiac rehab, and pulmonary rehab. In her free time, Jean enjoys being outdoors and spending time with family and friends. |
updated JULY 15 2024 | cjb
