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2018 Investiture Ceremony honors four named professors and their benefactors

September 14, 2018
  • Jane Freedman, MD, the Edward Budnitz, MD, Professorship in Cardiovascular Medicine, addresses the audience at the 2018 Investiture ceremony.
  • Jonathan Gerber, MD, the Farrington Chair in Cancer Research, speaks.
  • Zhiping Weng, PhD, (right), is invested as the Li Weibo Chair in Biomedical Research. Li Weibo is pictured at left.
  • Anna Ling Pierce is recognized by Chancellor Collins for her generous contributions through the Ali and John Pierce Chair in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, in memory of her daughter and husband.
  • Jason Shohet, MD, is invested as the Ali and John Pierce Chair in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.
  • Dr. Baldor carries the mace from the ceremony.

Four distinguished faculty members were officially invested into named professorships at the 2018 Investiture Ceremony at UMass Chan Medical School on Thursday, Sept. 13, bringing the total number of endowed chairs at UMass Chan Medical School to 49. The generous donors who make the essential positions a reality were also recognized.

“Our success—past, present and future—has been and will continue to be predicated upon partnership. At this event, we celebrate the exponential power of partnership and the role our donors play in helping a medical school in Worcester play an outsized role in the world,” said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medical Education, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the School of Medicine, in opening the investiture ceremony in the auditorium of the Albert Sherman Center. “By celebrating the faculty members who are joining the august ranks of our named professors and the most generous donors who established the endowed faculty positions, we are espousing the value and virtue of partnership.”

The following professors were invested at the ceremony:
Jane Freedman, MD, professor of medicine, director of translational research for the UMass Memorial Heart and Vascular Center and director of the High-Throughput Gene Expression and Biomarker Core Lab, was invested into the Edward Budnitz, MD, Professorship in Cardiovascular Medicine.

Jonathan Gerber, MD, chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology in the Department of Medicine, medical director of the UMass Cancer Center and associate professor of medicine, was invested into the Eleanor Eustis Farrington Chair in Cancer Research.

Jason Shohet, MD, PhD, division chief of pediatric hematology and oncology and associate professor of pedatrics, was invested into the Ali and John Pierce Chair of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. 

Zhiping Weng, PhD, professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology and director of the Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, was invested into the Li Weibo Chair in Biomedical Research.

For additional information about the endowed chairs at UMass Chan Medical School, visit the Office of Advancement website.