» City of Worcester honors Felice
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felice City of Worcester honors Felice
Proclamation cites contributions to Worcester Infant Mortality Task Force

By Sandra Gray
UMass Medical School Communications

January 13, 2012



  felice
Marianne Felice, MD
The Worcester City Council welcomed in the new year by proclaiming Jan. 3, 2012, Dr. Marianne Felice Day. Mayor Joseph M. Petty made the proclamation in honor of Marianne Felice, MD, chair and professor of pediatrics, for her nine years of service as chair of the Worcester Infant Mortality Task Force.

Although the differences are very small, Worcester has had a persistently higher infant mortality rate than Massachusetts and the United States overall. Under Dr. Felice’s leadership, the task force, comprising clinicians, state and city public health departments, social service agencies, and community members and groups, found that infants at highest risk of death in Worcester are born to women who emigrated from West African countries such as Ghana and Liberia. An interdisciplinary team of medical and nursing students studied Worcester’s Ghanaian immigrant families to develop plans for action in partnership with the task force, including a series of public service announcements to educate the public about risk factors for infant mortality and what individuals can do to reduce those risks.

Felice, who is also physician-in-chief of the UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center, was recruited by the Medical School as chair of pediatrics in 1998. During her tenure, Felice doubled the number of faculty in the department and the UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center won membership in the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions. She also helped raise the reputation of the UMass Pediatric Residency Program to national prominence. Felice announced recently that she will step down as chair of the department and physician-in-chief in the fall of 2012.

In his proclamation, Mayor Petty noted that Felice has been a tireless advocate for children in the City of Worcester; has brought together members from all segments of the community and focused them on the challenge of lowering the infant mortality rate for the city; has extended her knowledge and concern for infant mortality into the community, representing the best of partnerships between institutions of higher education and the city; and has provided the Worcester Infant Mortality Task Force with nine years of outstanding service.

“As touched as I am at the recognition by the city council and mayor, I am more delighted that this occasion gave me the opportunity to educate the new city council members about the problem of infant mortality in Worcester,” Felice said.

Related links on UMassMedNow:

Felice appointed to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation board
Faculty travel to Ghana seeking clues to Worcester’s infant mortality mystery