UMass Chan Medical School 2023 Media Fellowship Schedule

Day #1
Thursday, March 16, 2023
8:30 - 9 a.m.

Arrivals & Welcome

Cube

Settle in and meet the folks with whom you’ll be spending the next two days. Coffee & light breakfast will be available.

9 -10:15 a.m.

Welcome from Chancellor Michael F. Collins, MD

Cube

Chancellor Michael F. Collins will provide an overview of the incredible growth of UMass Chan Medical School, Massachusetts’ first and only public medical school, which has become a leading academic destination and an economic engine across the commonwealth. UMass Chan is home to three graduate schools—the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Additionally, UMass Chan is a biomedical research powerhouse, with more than $300 million in funding each year, and a world-renowned faculty that includes a Nobel Laureate; Breakthrough Prize, Lasker Award and Gruber Prize winners; investigators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and members of national academies.

10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Exploring the untapped potential of digital medicine

Cube

David McManus, MD, the Richard Haidack Professor of Medicine and chair and professor of medicine, is a trailblazer in digital health. Dr. McManus’s research focuses on the use of technology to enhance the diagnosis and treatment of patients. In 2021, after being appointed chair of the Department of Medicine, he launched the Program in Digital Medicine.

Nancy Anoruo, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, is the program’s director of innovation. Dr. Anoruo became interested in digital health applications while finishing her residency training at UMass Chan.

In this session, Drs. McManus and Anoruo will dive into trends in digital health, explain why they believe it is the future of health care, and how it will benefit physicians and patients alike.

11:45 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Lunch & Learn: Diversity and Inclusion

Cube

For lunch, we welcome Marlina Duncan, EdD, vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion. This session will provide an opportunity for a robust conversation about UMass Chan’s aspirations and strategies to foster progress in achieving diversity, inclusion and health equity. Fellows are encouraged to share topics of interest and/or come with specific questions to contribute to this conversation.

1:15 - 2:45 p.m.

Gene therapies promising path to treating rare diseases

Cube

As many as 40 million people in the U.S., many of them children, are born with one of more than 7,000 known rare diseases. Most of these diseases are caused by a faulty gene, meaning that patients and their families, are turning to gene therapy trials and research for hope.

Terence Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, has been a pioneer in gene therapy since the 1990s. He will provide an overview of the science, highlight recent scientific milestones and describe UMass Chan’s pursuit to advance treatments with a unique partnership model. 

Ana Rita Batista, PhD, instructor of neurology, will share new developments in the research she leads to better understand Cockayne syndrome.

Also joining the discussion is Jo Kaur, who founded the Riaan Research Initiative with her husband after their son, Riaan, was diagnosed with Cockayne syndrome. The Riann Research Initiative is funding preclinical gene replacement therapy research into Cockayne syndrome at UMass Chan.

3 - 4 p.m.

A unique approach to preventing Lyme disease

Cube

Mark Klempner, MD, professor of medicine and former executive vice chancellor for MassBiologics at UMass Chan, has dedicated his research to the prevention of Lyme disease. Dr. Klempner and Yang Wang, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and deputy director of product discovery at MassBiologics, will explain the latest details on a clinical trial of a preventive shot for Lyme disease.

4:00 p.m.

Day #2
Friday, March 17, 2023

7:30 - 8 a.m.

Cube

Get settled for day two and enjoy a light breakfast

Cube

How much do you really know about the complex care and decisions that come when you or a loved one are facing a serious illness or are nearing the end of life? UMass Chan palliative care expert Sunita Puri, MD, associate professor of medicine, program director of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship and author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, helps patients navigate end-of-life decisions. In this session,Dr. Puri willoffer insight and evidence about the power and potential of palliative medicine.

9:30 - 10:30 a.m.

New methods for brain injury rehabilitation

Cube

A.M. Barrett, MD, chair and professor of neurology, is a cognitive neurologist,specializing in neurorehabilitation and brain injury medicine. Dr. Barrett’s research focus has been on brain-behavior relationships relevant to spatial cognition and rehabilitation of spatial neglect, a behavioral syndrome that occurs in about half of people who suffer from stroke. Spatial neglect makes it difficult for patients who processand react to things on one side of the body and often goes undiagnosed. Dr. Barrett will demonstrate how prism goggles can help improve brain injury rehabilitation.

10:45 - 11:15 a.m.

Explore UMass Chan’s immersive learning environment

Location: iCELS

We will take you on a quick walking tour of the immersive learning environment that has transformed medical education for students of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, the Morningside School of Biomedical Sciences and the Tan Chingfen School of Nursing. The state-of-the-art interprofessional Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation, known as iCels, has one of the longest running standardized patient programs in the country. Standardized patients are everyday people who undergo training to simulate or “perform” a medical condition to provide realistic experience and training for our learners. Explore the Sim center, innovation lab and virtual operating room.

11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Match Day Celebration!

Medical School Lobby 

At 11:30 a.m., we will head down to the Medical School lobby to witness the most exuberant and joyous day on campus each year. “Match Day” is when fourth-year medical school students across the United States learn, at the same moment, where they will begin their careers in medicine. You’ll join fourth-year students from the T. H. Chan School of Medicine as they gather with their friends, families, peers, faculty mentors and Medical School leadership for a celebration.  

12:30 -1 p.m.

Wrap-up

Cube

Grab a to-go lunch, complete a fellowship evaluation, wrap up and head out