In a speech to the Worcester Area Chamber of Commerce on June 18, University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees Chairman Henry M. Thomas III highlighted the importance of UMass Medical School to the success of the regional economy.
“The effect that the University of Massachusetts Medical School has on this region is truly profound. And to think that only a matter of decades ago, this institution didn’t exist. And in the veritable blink of an eye here it is, and its impact is so phenomenal. It’s hard to imagine Worcester without UMass Medical or UMass Medical without Worcester.”
Thomas noted that UMMS annually ranks as one of the top medical schools in the nation for primary care education, has seen faculty researchers win prestigious awards including the Nobel Prize, is globally recognized for the quality of its research activities and annually attracts nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in federal and private research grants and contracts.
Thomas, who lives in Springfield and has served on the UMass Board of Trustees since 2007, also noted that a recent UMass Donahue Institute report found that UMass Medical School produced $42 in economic activity for every $1 the school receives from the state.
