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New leadership for international medical and global health education to continue Godkin’s legacy

Retiring director established Multicultural and Underserved Pathway program

Michael Chin, MD, and Ann Moormann, PhD, have been appointed to jointly oversee the International Medical Education and Global Health Pathway programs at UMass Medical School. In a related reorganization, the elective program for visiting international students will be managed by the Office of Student Affairs under the direction of Michael Kneeland, MD, MPH, interim associate dean for student affairs.

In their new roles, Drs. Chin, Moormann and Kneeland will continue the legacy established by Mick Godkin, PhD, who is retiring after 36 years of dedicated service to the medical school. The Multicultural and Underserved (now Global Health) Pathway program created by Dr. Godkin has helped hundreds of students over three decades navigate international experiences worldwide, establishing UMass Medical School as a leader in international medical education.

“Through all of his efforts, Mick has left an indelible mark on students, our medical school and the global medical community,” said Michele Pugnaire, MD, senior associate dean for educational affairs, who announced the appointments. “Please join me in recognizing Dr. Godkin for his vision and dedication to medical education and in welcoming Drs. Chin, Moormann and Kneeland to their new leadership roles.”

Chin, adjunct assistant professor of family medicine & community health, is a health policy associate in Commonwealth Medicine’s Office of Health Policy and Technology. A graduate of UMMS, he began his global health involvement in Zimbabwe with a clinical elective in internal medicine and ophthalmology. In the decade since finishing his residency at Brown University, Chin has worked as a visiting lecturer in Uganda and a volunteer physician in Nepal, Nicaragua, Belize and Honduras.

Moormann, associate professor of pediatrics and quantitative health sciences, is the associate executive director for the UMMS-AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Health) partnership. She earned her MPH and PhD in epidemiologic sciences from the University of Michigan, with post-doctoral training in the Center for Global Health at Case Western Reserve University. Moorman’s research focuses on pediatric immunity and infectious disease, and Burkitt’s lymphoma, the most prevalent pediatric cancer in equatorial Africa.

Kneeland, clinical professor of medicine, is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians with broad experience in public health, health care policy and management and health services administration. He received his MD from Tufts School of Medicine and MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.

“UMMS is fortunate to have among our faculty such dedicated and talented individuals, whose collective efforts have established international medical education as a hallmark program for our school,” said Pugnaire.