MARIANNE E. FELICE, MD, NAMED PRESIDENT-ELECT OF ASSOCIATION OF 

MEDICALSCHOOL PEDIATRIC DEPARTMENT CHAIRS

UMass Memorial Children’s 

MedicalCenter leader to serve 2007-2009

March 24, 2005 

WORCESTER   , Mass.  —  Marianne E. Felice , MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was named president-elect of the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs (AMSPDC) at its annual meeting in March. Felice, who is also physician-in-chief for the UMass Memorial Children’s MedicalCenter , will serve as president from 2007 to 2009.

AMSPDC is a national association representing the 148 chairs of academic pediatric departments in all the medical schools in the 

United States , Canada and Puerto Rico . The organization helps coordinate pediatric education for medical students, pediatric residents and subspecialty postdoctoral fellows. AMSPDC also serves as the academic coordinating group for issues related to child health care and pediatric research in academic settings.

“It is always an honor to be elected by one’s peers to a leadership position,” said Dr. Felice. “I have learned a lot about being a department chair from my fellow chairs; we represent both large and small departments and as a group, we train medical students, residents and fellows — crossing all disciplines that affect children from adolescent medicine to hematology/oncology and more.” 

Some of the issues the AMSPDC focuses on, according to Felice, are training enough pediatric subspecialists to meet the nation’s needs; attracting medical students into pediatrics; balancing maternity leave and part-time work for the high number of women in the field; ensuring that young physicians have time to conduct research amid their busy clinic schedules; and ensuring that children’s services are held to high standards in hospitals facing budget and Medicaid cuts. 

Felice is a widely respected teacher with a strong commitment to medical education, training medical fellows in adolescent health and mentoring pediatric house officers.  Leading pediatrics at the 

MedicalSchool andUMass Memorial since 1998, Dr. Felice brings more than 30 years of experience in the field. She served as chief of adolescent medicine and vice chair of pediatrics at the University of Maryland Medical System in Baltimore . Prior to joining the University of Maryland in 1990, Felice served as chief of the division adolescent medicine at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine and MedicalCenter . She earned her medical degree from PennsylvaniaStateUniversity in 1972 and completed her residency in pediatrics at HarrisburgPolyclinicHospital and a fellowship in behavioral pediatrics/adolescent medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital.

Focused on research surrounding teen pregnancy and sexuality, Felice has been awarded more than $7 million in private, state, and federal grants for clinical and research programs in adolescent health, particularly teen pregnancy and parenting.  In 2000, she established 

Worcester ’s Teen-Tot Connection, a program focused on addressing the medical needs of young mothers and their children and helping to prevent subsequent pregnancies. She also chairs the Worcester Infant Mortality Reduction Task Force, a local coalition of 25 agencies investigating the causes of and solutions to infant mortality in the city.

Felice has served on national committees and boards and has been asked to testify before state and federal agencies on behalf of children’s issues.  She is a member of several major professional societies, including the Society for Adolescent Medicine, of which she was the youngest person elected president.  Felice also served as chair of the Committee on Adolescents for the 

AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics and is a reviewer for seven major medical journals, sitting on the editorial boards of two others. 

Recipient of numerous awards throughout her career, Felice received the 1996 Governor’s Citation for Outstanding Service to the State of 

Maryland as chair of the Advisory Committee for “Maryland Making the Grade,” a special task force to obtain funding for school-based health centers for the state. She also was awarded the AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics’ 1996 Adele Hofman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Adolescent Health.

The University of Massachusetts Medical School, one of the fastest growing academic health centers in the country, has built a reputation as a world-class research institution, consistently producing noteworthy advances in clinical and basic research.  UMMS is the academic partner of UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest health care system in 

Central Massachusetts  .  For more information go to www.umassmed.edu and www.umassmemorial.org .

 

Contact: Alison Duffy, (508) 856-2000, alison.duffy@umassmed.edu