Photo: Rob Carlin
UMass Chan Medical School inducted 31 members of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine Class of 2025 into the Delta chapter of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, as well as faculty, alumni and house staff, during a ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
In her welcome, Anne C. Larkin, MD, associate professor of surgery and vice provost and senior associate dean for educational affairs, noted that as part of the national organization’s criteria, only up to 20 percent of a class can be inducted. Students are selected for high educational achievement, leadership, supporting the ideals of humanism and promoting service to others.
Anne Garrison, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics & gynecology and associate dean for student affairs, said the selection committee chose students for their dedication to vulnerable populations, to their peers and for their research in the areas of community and pediatrics.
Medical student Talia Campbell, who graduated from Brown University with a degree in neuroscience, was selected for her dedication to the care of those with disabilities. Campbell founded an optional enrichment elective on disability perspectives. She volunteers with two nonprofit organizations that host retreats for people with and without disabilities.
“I grew up with the disability community,” Campbell said after the ceremony. “It’s something that my family’s been a part of my whole life, so this was my normal. I was sort of surprised to find that for everyone else, it was a population that was more intimidating to work with. And I’m excited to tackle that.”
Medical student Maximilian Kinne, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in Arabic language and literature, was inducted for his dedication in the area of vaccines. Kinne, who is enrolled in the Population-based Urban and Rural Community Health PURCH track, UMass Chan’s program with Baystate Health in Springfield, started medical school in August 2021 during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I remember watching the first COVID-19 vaccine being given in the UK in December 2020. I thought, ‘I really want to be a part of this,’” he recalled.
Kinne was an executive board member of the Student Crisis and Emergency Preparedness Committee, and through that, led injection trainings for incoming medical students.
“Being involved with the vaccination efforts, being able to lead and also help out the community, was central to my experience at UMass Chan,” said Kinne.
Ryan Marano, a PURCH student who has a bachelor’s degree in biological systems engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, was inducted for being an advocate for climate change action. Marano helped run an optional enrichment elective and other events around the UMass Chan campus to increase awareness about the impact of the medical field on the climate.
“I’ve loved it at UMass Chan,” Marano said. “I think the biggest thing is the support from other medical students. I’m also a peer mentor, and I think that particularly with that organization, there’s just so much top to bottom support for medical students.”
Ten house staff (interns, residents and fellows) were also inducted, as were Navine Nasser-Ghodsi, MD, assistant professor of medicine, and Patricia Seymour, MD’07, associate professor of family medicine & community health and assistant dean for clinical curriculum in the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education, who was inducted as an alumna. Raquel Belforti, DO, associate professor of medicine at UMass Chan-Baystate, received the Community Physician Award.
This year’s AOA inductees are:
Students
Elisa Bello
Cara Berg
Rohan Bhat
Cameron Both
Lydia Brainard
Joseph Burzynski
Talia Campbell
Ricky Chae
Erica Dean
Michael Dente
Justine DiBiasio
Amanda Geagea
Krithi Gopalan
Jack Hanna
Danielle Heims-Waldron
Allison Holt
Madison Jones
Nikita Joshi
Maximilian Kinne
Ryan Marano
Marissa Mason
Alexander Neamtu
Connor Pauplis
Nicole Poole
Alana Prinos
Mallika Purandare
Meghan Reilly
Lyle Suh
Nathan Yingling
Christopher Zammitti
Christopher Zaro
Faculty
Navine Nasser-Ghodsi, MD
Alumni
Patricia Seymour, MD’07
House staff
Catherine Beauharnais, MD
Michael Bernazzani, MD
Andrea Castaldo, MD
Gabriel De la Cruz Ku, MD
Jennifer Grauberger, MD
Muhammed Gunduz, MD
Duncan Robertson, MD
Debajyoti Saha, MD
Gina Savella, MD
Christine Yao, MD
