Twenty UMass Chan Medical School faculty members graduated from the Junior Faculty Development Program in a ceremony on Thursday, May 16.
The Junior Faculty Development Program, the longest-running professional development program at UMass Chan, is a 12-month program that comprises a comprehensive curriculum on research, education and career development; and an individual project completed under the guidance of a senior faculty member.
Nearly 300 junior faculty members representing nearly every academic department have participated in the program since its launch at UMass Chan in 2010.
Jennifer Reidy, MD, associate professor of family medicine & community health, is serving her first year as director of the Junior Faculty Development Program.
According to Dr. Reidy, participants in the program are twice as likely to be promoted and have higher retention rates compared to peers who didn’t participate in the program.
Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, provided encouraging remarks to the program graduates about the value of the investment they’ve made in their careers.
“The Junior Development Faculty Program is really an investment that the institution, the department chairs, and very much you and your families have made in your professional development,” Dean Flotte said. “Any time I’m speaking to audiences and telling them all about the wonderful things that are happening at UMass Chan, I’m really telling them what you all have been able to do. Programs like this one are really helping take UMass Chan to new heights.”
Program graduates Anindita Deb, MD, associate professor of neurology; Eustathia Lela Giannaris, PhD, associate professor of radiology; and Caridad Ponce Martinez, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry, also delivered remarks.
The event concluded with Reidy and Pranoti Mandrekar, PhD, professor of medicine and co-director of the program, presenting graduates with their certificates.
2024 Junior Faculty Development Program graduates
Anushree Agrawal, MD, instructor in radiology (mentor: Meghna Trivedi, MD, associate professor of medicine)
Rita Amoah, PhD’22, RN, assistant professor of nursing (mentor: Chengwu Yang, MD, MS, PhD, associate professor of population & quantitative health sciences)
Varun Ayyaswami, MD, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: Ben Gerber, MD, professor of population & quantitative health sciences)
Lindsey Bazzone, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: John Haran, MD’07, PhD’18, professor of emergency medicine)
Poorva Bindal, MD, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: Kristin Mattocks, PhD, MPH, professor of population & quantitative health sciences)
Erin Cathcart, MD, MPH, CPH, assistant professor of family medicine & community health (mentor: John Broach, MD, MPH, MBA, associate professor of emergency medicine)
Amanda Cornine, PhD’22, RN, CNE, assistant professor of nursing (mentor: Jill Zitzewitz, PhD, associate professor of radiology)
Natasha Durham, PhD, instructor in microbiology & physiological systems (mentor: Celia Schiffer, PhD, the Arthur F. and Helen P. Koskinas Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology and chair and professor of biochemistry & molecular biotechnology)
Ann-Kristin Friedrich, MD, assistant professor of surgery (mentor: Anne Larkin, MD, associate professor of surgery and vice provost and senior associate dean for educational affairs)
Andrew Gillis-Smith, MD, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: Jennifer Tjia, MD, professor of population & quantitative health sciences)
Rebecca Gwaltney, MD’19, assistant professor of family medicine & community health (mentor: Tracy Kedian, MD’96, professor of family medicine & community health)
Rakhee Lalla, MD, assistant professor of neurology (mentor: Vandana Nagpal, MD, associate professor of medicine)
Flannery Merideth, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry (mentor: Oliver Marasigan, MD, assistant professor of medicine)
Erin Meyer, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics (mentor: M. Diane McKee, MD, MS, chair and professor of family medicine & community health)
Benedikt Mortzfeld, PhD, instructor in microbiology & physiological systems (mentor: Sanjay Ram, MD, professor of medicine)
Julia Parzych, MD’13, assistant professor of anesthesiology & perioperative medicine (mentor: Jennifer Carey, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine)
Matthew Rade, MD, assistant professor of surgery (mentor: Patricia Seymour, MD’07, associate professor of family medicine & community health)
Jessica St. John, MD’16, MPH, MBA, assistant professor of dermatology (mentor: Paul Rava, MD, PhD, associate professor of radiation oncology)
Jungwon Yoon, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine (mentor: David Hatem, MD, professor of medicine)
Martha Zimmermann, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry (mentor: David McManus, MD’02, MSc’12, the Richard M. Haidack Professor of Medicine, chair and professor of medicine)
