Points of Pride | NOVEMBER 2015
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umass medical school n o V e m B of e r POINTS 2 015 PrideA commitment to the people of the commonwealth making an impact all across the commonwealth leadership message 1 umass medical school points of pride | NOVEMBER 2015 commitment demonstrated we’re in the Very faBric of the community. Every fall, when we welcome a new class of students to our gleaming Chancellor Michael F. Collins, MD campus, it is both the fulfillment of one dream and the dawn of another. Whether entering medicine, biomedical research or nursing, the students’ (Photos, from left) eager curiosity about what their futures will hold echoes what I imagine Graduate School of Nursing our founders wondered, too, when those visionaries stood aside the lake student Carolyn Kane just half a century ago and planned to create a campus that would change provides flu shots at the 2014 the future of medicine. Statehouse Health Day. Today, UMass Medical School embodies a deep commitment to Chancellor Collins and his wife Maryellen join UMMS improve the health and well-being of the people of the commonwealth employees to volunteer and the world through pioneering advances in medical education and at the Veterans Inc. shelter biomedical research. We stand apart from our peers by virtue of the fact in Worcester. that half of our graduates choose to stay in Massachusetts. Andrew and Heidi Malaby, who earned their PhDs We are an integral component of the five-campus UMass system and at the Graduate School of the state’s only public medical school. While the heart of our campus Biomedical Sciences in 2014, teach a lesson in DNA beats strongly in Worcester, our students, staff and faculty are making for a Worcester middle a difference in communities from the Berkshires to Cape Cod. school class. Our commitment to the people of the commonwealth reveals itself in countless ways, many of which I hope you’ll take a moment to read about in greater depth in this magazine. It is reflected in our dedication to the region’s public health; in our support of K-16 STEM education; in our varied student-led community service initiatives; and in our $1.575 million investment in Worcester’s One City – One Library. We are proud to be a part of the very fabric of our community. With our founding commitment to primary care, our long-standing commitment to groundbreaking discovery and our complete commitment to quality and integrity in all our mission areas, we are a commonwealth resource that is here for a reason. On the cover: Cassidy Mellin, SOM ’18, is one of the students at UMass Medical School who run the Chancellor Michael F. Collins, MD Farm to Health Center Initiative in Worcester. The program distributes fresh fruits and vegetables to food insecure families at Family Health Center of Worcester. 2 umass medical school points of pride | NOVEMBER 2015 students & faculty making a difference 3 students & faculty UMass Medical School students provide new foster children some comfort making a difference through the Kelley Backpacks program. 1 uMass MeDiCal SChool StuDentS enjoy their BeSt BuDDieS 2 A Medical student Justin Pespisa, SOM ’16, launched a Best Buddies chapter at UMass Medical School to promote StuDent-run Kelley Backpacks friendships between adults with intellectual disabilities prograM giveS vulneraBle Kids and aspiring doctors and advanced practice nurses, and to reinforce the importance of compassion in health care. SoMething to holD onto A “Best Buddies is a program that I’ve been involved in Every month at the University campus of the UMass ever since high school and when I got to UMass, they Memorial Medical Center, children are taken into didn’t have a chapter here and I protective custody by the Massachusetts Department of thought they really should,” said Children and Families (DCF) due to concerns about abuse Pespisa. “It’s particularly important or neglect. Although these children are being removed for people going into health care to from dangerous and unhealthy living environments, the really view people with intellectual separation from their families is traumatic nonetheless. disabilities as our equals. Viewing These children are often discharged from the hospital First-year medical students celebrate with them as equals will lead to more into emergency foster care with only the clothing on their Chancellor Collins, after participating in ALWAYS READy TO compassion and empathy when caring for them.” the White Coat Ceremony. The annual event backs. Until they are placed into a longer term foster HELP, ALWAYS READy marks the first time medical students don the Pespisa and chapter co-founder Victoria Winslow, SOM home, they have very little to call their own. The goal of symbolic attire of the medical profession and ’18, reached out to Seven Hills Foundation of Worcester to Kelley Backpacks is to make this transition a little more when they dedicate themselves to serving the help find interested adults in their community who might comfortable for the children and their foster families. TO LEND a HAND. needs of others. enjoy friendships with the students. Originally hoping to The Kelley Backpacks program was started in 2011 start with a handful of students and community members, by Heather Busick, MD ’12, then a fourth-year medical Pespisa and Winslow said they were delighted by the student. It is modeled after a program in the emergency nearly two dozen pairs who signed up. They now have department at Boston Medical Center. Students in the Whether bringing comfort to sick children, helping middle school students discover nearly four dozen students paired with friends. Kelley Backpacks program aim to provide a backpack John Lauria, who is buddies with Salim Zerriny, SOM with age and gender appropriate supplies for each child a love for science or giving compassionate care to the homeless, students at ’16, said their favorite activity is going out to dinner. discharged into DCF custody at the University campus of UMass Medical School are deeply involved in the Worcester community through a “He means a lot to me, like a good friend,” Lauria UMass Memorial Medical Center. The bags are loaded said at a recent picnic organized by the UMMS students. with clothing, books, stickers, games, hair accessories, broad range of student programs. Alongside their faculty mentors, our students are “He can help me with different things in life, so I think toothbrushes, pajamas, blankets and stuffed animals. passionate about making a difference. it’s good.” More than 100 bags have been distributed to children in need since the program was launched. 4 umass medical school points of pride | NOVEMBER 2015 students & faculty making a difference 5 Co-founded and supported Sidekicks pairs by UMMS students, ACE pediatric patients at helps African immigrant UMass Memorial with children succeed medical students. in school. 3 5 young patientS have a FrienD in AfriCan Community EduCation helpS uMass MeDiCal SChool StuDent immigrant AfriCan FaMilieS thrive; SiDeKicks prograM Co-FounDeD By uMMS MeDiCal StuDent Student Blair Robinson, SOM ’18 (right), volunteers alongside Student Camilla Yu, SOM ’18, volunteers at Worcester free clinics. The Sidekicks program matches medical students with African Community Education (ACE) serves more than community members at the Farm to Health Center Initiative. patients receiving care at the UMass Memorial Children’s 100 African immigrant and refugee children and parents Medical Center. By pairing a pediatric patient with a from seven countries in six distinct programs. UMMS has student, usually in his or her first year, Sidekicks creates been involved with ACE since its inception, playing an 4 an opportunity for the patient to build a supportive essential role in its history. Olga Valdman, MD ’08, then a 6 SOM student who has since returned as a faculty member, relationship outside the usual family or medical setting. FarM-to-health initiative proviDeS It also creates opportunities for students to learn from co-founded ACE with Executive Director Kaska Yawo, a WorCeSter Free CliniC Coalition FaMilieS With prescriptionS For refugee resettlement case worker from Liberia who is now situations they may not be exposed to in the classroom and The Worcester Free Clinic Coalition oversees five clinics FreSh Fruit, vegetaBleS an American citizen. Dr. Valdman and Yawo created ACE to build relationships with these children that will prepare that offer health care services to underserved and to provide a safe and supportive environment in which them to become better physicians. The Farm-to-Health Initiative, launched by UMass uninsured populations in the greater Worcester area. African refugees and immigrant children could learn, For example, Shaun Dean, MD ’12, said one of the most Medical School students, is a partnership between UMass The Epworth Clinic, St. Anne’s Clinic, Greenwood achieve and succeed in their new country. important things he came to understand through his young Medical School and the Community Harvest Project St. Clinic, India Society of Worcester Health Stop and Students attending the program have come to the United companion is the toll a child’s illness takes on the family. aimed at reducing rates of food insecurity by increasing Akwaaba Health Initiative provide free health care on States from nations suffering from war and political “I saw how hard it was for the family . the travel patient access to and consumption of fresh produce. The different nights of the week. or social instability that left them unable to engage in and gas expenses; trying to find a wheelchair and a program aims to educate physicians and staff to screen All clinics are staffed by volunteer physicians, meaningful schooling; thus many are often years behind parking space,” he said. “And the waiting. Waiting, patients at the Family Health Center of Worcester for food physician’s assistants, nurses and social workers.