UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SCHOOL AWARDED 161 DEGREES AT 32nd COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES ON JUNE 5
JUNE 5, 2005
WORCESTER, Mass. — The University of Massachusetts Medical School, comprising the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Graduate School of Nursing, awarded 161 degrees, including two honorary degrees, at its 32nd commencement exercises held June 5 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester. Chancellor and Dean Aaron Lazare, MD, presented 104 doctor of medicine degrees, including three MD/PhDs; 32 doctor of philosophy degrees; and 19 master of science degrees and four post-master’s certificates in nursing. Honorary degrees were also awarded to Syed Adibul Hasan Rizvi, MD, and, posthumously, to Kenneth B. Schwartz.
The commencement address was given by Robert A. Weinberg, PhD, an internationally recognized authority on the genetic basis of human cancer. Weinberg is a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge and the Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has also been an American Cancer Society Research Professor at the Whitehead Institute and MIT since 1985.
Dr. Weinberg was the first to discover a cancer-causing gene in humans and is considered one of the pioneers in the understanding of the genetics of cancer. The principal goal of his current research is to determine how cancer-causing oncogenes, their normal counterparts, proto-oncogenes, and tumor suppressor genes fit together in the complex circuitry that controls cell growth. Particularly interested in applying this knowledge to improve the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, Dr. Weinberg and his colleagues have developed techniques to reconstruct normal, functional human breast tissue in a laboratory model and to introduce specific genes and genetic abnormalities into cells in this reconstructed tissue. Through these techniques, they hope to pinpoint precisely how breast cancer begins.
UMMS awarded an honorary degree to Syed Adibul Hasan Rizvi, MD, founder and director of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), the largest public-sector health organization in Pakistan. Dr. Rizvi follows the philosophy of a partnership between the government and the public; in his country, where every year 3,000 men, women and children face end-stage renal failure and the cost of dialysis is four times the average annual per capita income, this state-of-the-art institute provides dialysis and organ transplantation services free of charge.
Dr. Rizvi studied medicine at Dow Medical College in Karachi and honed his surgical skills for nine years in Great Britain, specializing in urology. In 1971, he returned to Pakistan to establish his specialty at Civil Hospital in Karachi. Over time, Dr. Rizvi expanded his urological clinic from strictly surgical procedures to dialysis treatments, high-tech diagnostics and kidney transplantation. And, in 1992, he formally established the autonomous SIUT which today treats more than 350,000 patients annually, paid for primarily by private philanthropy.
UMMS also presented an honorary degree posthumously to Kenneth B. Schwartz, a Boston health care lawyer, first in state government and then in the private sector, who died of lung cancer at the age of 40. Shortly before his death in September 1995, Mr. Schwartz established a center dedicated to strengthening the relationship between patients and caregivers in the changing health care system and as a vehicle to advance the ideas, hopes and concerns he expressed in his article about his diagnosis and treatment, “A Patient’s Story,” published in the July 16, 1995, Boston Globe Magazine.
Created to perpetuate his vision, the non-profit Kenneth B. Schwartz Center is housed at Massachusetts General Hospital and is widely respected in the health care community for its creative and effective promotion of compassionate health care—care during which providers, patients and their families relate to one another in a way that gives hope to the patients, support to the caregivers and sustenance to the healing process. In addition to providing grants to health care providers who support its mission and offering speakers, panel discussions and special events for the general public, the Center’s two primary programs include the Schwartz Center Rounds and the Clinical Pastoral Education Program for Health Care Professionals. Mr. Schwartz’s widow, Ellen Cohen, President of the Board of the Schwartz Center, received her husband’s honorary degree at the ceremony.
The University of Massachusetts Medical School was created in l962 by an act of the Massachusetts legislature to enable state residents to study medicine at an affordable cost, and to increase the number of primary care physicians practicing in underserved areas of the state. The School of Medicine accepted its first class of 16 students in 1970 and now accepts 100 students per class. Today, the 67-acre campus is comprised of the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (opened in 1979), and the Graduate School of Nursing (opened in 1986). The Medical School has consistently ranked among the top medical schools in the country for primary care, and this year was ranked fourth among the 125 schools nationwide. One of the fastest growing academic health centers in the country, UMMS attracts more than $173 million in research funding annually and is on the leading edge of medical research into human disease and treatment.
Class speakers included Jean A. Marcelin Jr. (
School
of
Medicine
); Melissa A. Calmann (Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences); and Yvonne Michaud (Graduate School of Nursing). Degree recipients are listed alphabetically by hometown on the following pages.
School
ofMedicine
: Doctor of Medicine (104)Acton
: Heather Lauren Diskin
Acushnet: Ricardo Avelino DeSousa
Allston: Jeanette Lavasta
Amesbury: Maureen Despres
Amherst
: Emily Margaret Jones
Andover
: Edward William Heinle, III
Cindy Wen-san Su
Heather Lynne Young
Ashburnham: Julie A. Bettencourt
Auburn
: John Paul Verderese
Bedford : Elisa Naomi Banner
Alissa Robyn Dangel
Belmont : Jennifer Ellen Austin
Bolton : Jennifer Lynn Pfau
Boston : Bronwen Cowan Carroll
Marc Andrew Lieberman
Jennifer Liu
Brighton : Brian H. Hyett
Amy Beth Molis
Brookline : Gabrielle Marie Hyde
Jess Levins Kaplan
Ronald Wayne Ste. Marie, Jr.
Burlington : Emily Meichun Ko
Berenika Voskoboynik
Chestnut Hill : Joshua Eric Meyer
Cohasset: Martha Hill McLoughlin
Concord
: Kenneth Ian Barron
Rachel McColl Vuolo
Dennis: Lauren Donnell McClure
Dorchester
: Karlene Marie Boswell
Dover
: Nicola Joy Smith
East Brookfield
: Thomas Edgar Jaquith-Houston
Easton
: Poonam Modha
Fall River
: M. Richard Pavao
Falmouth
: Elijah James Luyten
Framingham
: Egal Hassan Gudal
Susan Rachel Paul
Hampden: Jessica Praed Simons
Holliston: Andrew James Cocchiarella
Holyoke
: Jeffrey John Cook
Ipswich
: Peter Albert Soderland
Lexington
: Genevieve Petty Bartels
Megan Mann-Hua Lo
Stephanie Kirsten Mueller
Lisa Margaret Salisbury
Linwood: Lauri Daniel
BoltonLowell
: Adam Y. Abou-Elias
Ludlow
: Robert Jaime Nascimento
Lunenberg: David James Hirsch
Johanna Valerie-Elisabeth Mailloux
Mansfield
: Geoffrey Michael Crimmins
Melrose
: Nicole
Troy
Spillane
Milton
: Peter James Hynes
Monson: Jeffrey Bryan King
Natick
: Andrew David Cook
Needham
: Peter H. DeNoble
Michael Patrick Kelly
Samuel Pierce Mandell
Newton
: Sunny Jaiswal
Jeremy Isaac Keller
Allison Ruth Kowaloff
Alan Ross Morrison*
Northampton
: Kathryn Fleming-Ives
North Attleboro
:Danielle Adriana Dupont
Aarti Sekhar
Northborough: Joseph C. Tennyson
North Reading
: Steven Michael Solano
Norwood
: Anne Christine Powell
Peabody
: Elizabeth Castagneto Andrada
Peru
: Kristin E. Lamontagne
Princeton
: Dustin Lewis Pomerleau
Randolph
: Teli Leung
Roxbury: Eleni Sophia Spartos O’Donovan
Rutland
: Jean A. Marcelin, Jr.
Seekonk: Erin Elizabeth Barlow
Sheffield
: Paul Pasquale Christopher
Shrewsbury
: Julie Anne O’Brien
Somerset
: Jesse Affonso
Jason Joseph Diogo
Somerville
: Joseph Sean O’Garr
Elizabeth Marie O’Shea Speed
Southborough: Nicholas John Fustino
Springfield
: Michael Noel Cocchi
Stoneham
: Lauren Alberta-Wszolek
Stoughton
: David L. McGarry
Sturbridge: Nicole Marie Theodoropoulos
Matthew F. Wszolek
Sudbury
: Whitney Breckinridge Drake
Sutton: Andrew Albert Monte
Swansea
: Keelin Ann Garvey
Three Rivers: Nathan Joseph Abare
Tyngsborough: Thomas R. Meredith
Wakefield
: Dean Howard Santerre
Wellesley
: Nicholas Genes*
West Roxbury
: Theofilos P. Matheos
West Springfield
: Sarah Jane Laduzenski
Whitinsville: Steven P. Lamontagne
Wilbraham: Shagheyegh Moghaddam
Williamstown: Vanessa Cook Jacobsohn
Woburn
: Amanda Faith Goddard
Wollaston: Andrew Hoey Watt
Worcester
: John E. Harris*
Jacklyn Akua Nkrumah
Gregory Kevork Papazian
*Alan Ross Morrison of Newton, Nicholas Genes from Wellesley, and John E. Harris of
Worcester
will receive both an MD and PhD
Graduate
School
of Biomedical Sciences, Doctor of Philosophy (32)
Acton
: Jennifer Ann Lamb
Chicopee
: Agata Jurczyk
East Brookfield
: Anthony L. Forget
Hopkinton: Wendy Cherie Zimmerman
Hudson
: Corey Lewis Smith
Leominster
: Paula Leslie Feinberg-Zadek
Newton
: Alan Ross Morrison*
North Grafton
: Christopher Joachim Lengner
Heather Anne Steinman
Quincy
: Nuria Sanchez-Velar
Watertown
: Madathia Sarkissian
Wellesley
: Nicholas Genes*
Westford : Kristen Strand
Woburn: Melissa Ann Farrow
Worcester : Luana Omodele Atherly
Yanxia Bei
Melissa A. Calmann
Atish Ganguly
John E. Harris*
Shane Renee Mayack
Nichole Renee Mercier
Lu-Ann M. Pozzi
Wrentham: Julie Lucas
Downey
,CA
: Thomas Hyung Lee
Monterey Park
,CA
: Jen-Yeu Wang
Mountain View
,CA
: Jonathan Adam Phillips
San Francisco
,CA
: Sara Gozalo
Bronx
,NY
: Deborah Marie Brancho
Buffal o
, NY
: Erica G. HenningBurlison
,TN
: Adam Scott Gromley
Seattle
,WA
: Nathan Andrew Elliott
Mengchu Wu
*Alan Ross Morrison of Newton, Nicholas Genes from Wellesley, and John E. Harris of
Worcester
will receive both an MD and PhD
Graduate
School
of
Nursing
, Master of Science (19)
Acton
: Mary Castonguay
Ashland
: Yvonne Michaud
Auburn
: Janine L. Chalupka
E. Hampstead: Lisa Lang
Goffstown: Margaret A. Emmons
Holliston: Patrice M. Knapp
Leominster
: Sharon A. Kubik
Patrice A. Richardson
Ludlow
: Bethany Anne Ondrick
Malden
: Catherine A. Hill
Milford
: Lisa Marie Vasile
Natick
: Rui Xu
N. Brookfield
: Mary Rucho
Pepperell: Christine Mary Dutton
Pittsfield
: Teresa Stimpson
S. Lancaster
: Ilsa Grunder
Worcester
: Catherine Powers
Linda J. Josephson
Ann Marie Nixon
Graduate
Schoolof Nursing Post Master’s Certificate (4 ) Foxboro: Jayne Ellen Wheeler
Oakham: Christine Devine
Marlborough
: Kathryn R. Small
Worcester
: Maureen Patricia Kenefick
Contact: Alison Duffy,508-856-2000,alison.duffy@umassmed.edu