Scholarship for PhD students will honor Robert (Bob) Wellman, PhD, and his late wife, Mary Wellman, PhD

Bob Wellman, PhD, and the late Mary Wellman, PhD, shared a commitment to psychology and education that will live on through a new bequest intention. 

It all started with a chance encounter back in 1968. That night, Bob had been coaxed into working the door at a college bar in Stony Brook, New York, where he had a regular gig performing folk songs. When Mary (née Haunss) arrived with a group of friends, Bob was instantly taken with her warmth, intelligence and beauty. As Bob and Mary would later say, it was “bashert” (destined or intended in Yiddish).

Their life together included almost 54 years of marriage, until Mary’s death in April 2023 from Alzheimer’s disease. At its core was a shared passion for helping vulnerable people, to which they both dedicated their careers as psychologists. The bequest intention will establish the Drs. Mary M. and Robert J. Wellman Scholarship in Clinical and Population Health Research at UMass Chan Medical School, which Bob first joined as an adjunct faculty member, later shifting to a voluntary role upon his retirement from Fitchburg State University in 2011. 

Bob and Mary both devoted much of their careers to promoting the well-being of children and adolescents. Both worked as school psychologists, Bob for a shorter time, after which he opened a private practice and eventually went into teaching and research. Mary performed psychological evaluations for many state agencies and school districts and became a full professor of counseling and educational psychology at Rhode Island College. 

“Mary fell in love with pretty much every kid she worked with,” said Bob.

Alongside their careers, the couple pursued enriching personal interests together, including restoration of their historic saltbox home, extensive travel and spiritual enlightenment. Mary taught classes in meditation, stress relief and personal growth and wellness through her own business, and Bob continues to engage in indigenous North American Indian spiritual practices.

Echoing the benevolence rooted in their lives and careers, a scholarship in Bob and Mary’s name will support PhD and/or MD/PhD students at the Morningside School of Biomedical Sciences, with a preference for students in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences. The intention is to offer support that supplements the student’s annual stipend, thereby encouraging professional development through opportunities such as conference attendance and special courses. 

“A lot of the scholarships at UMass Chan are directed at medical students, while there are fewer for PhD students,” said Bob. “I’m excited to support students who will engage in cutting-edge research in areas of public health, and who are emotionally and intellectually committed to making a real difference in people’s lives.” 

“I’m amazed at some of the graduates in population health,” said Bob. “Students have gone on to do incredible things.” 

Bob’s own journey at UMass Chan began when Joseph DiFranza, MD, professor emeritus in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, invited him to research the origins of nicotine addiction in children. The two went on to publish numerous research papers together, before Dr. DiFranza left UMass Chan and Bob switched to the Division of Preventive & Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences. 

Their work included an influential meta-analysis regarding the extent to which tobacco marketing and use in films contribute to the use of tobacco among adolescents. Published in The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the study concluded that exposure to pro-tobacco marketing and media more than doubles the odds of adolescents initiating tobacco use and recommended a ban on all tobacco promotions. The widely cited study prompted a rebuttal in The Wall Street Journal from Altria, the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes and related products.

Pointing to the opportunity to engage in high-impact research such as this study, Bob credits UMass Chan with his deeply fulfilling second career as a research scientist. The scholarship is in part a vehicle for expressing this profound gratitude to the Medical School. At the same time, it’s a powerful, lasting testament to his and Mary’s shared life. 

“Mary was an educator for her career,” said Bob. “What better way to honor her and our lives together than to set up a scholarship in our name?” 

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