Felice’s leadership leaves lasting impact

After 13 years of leadership with distinction, Marianne E. Felice, MD, chair and professor of pediatrics, has announced she will step down as chair and physician-in-chief of the UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center in the fall of 2012. Dr. Felice will continue to serve as chair during the search for a successor.

“Even a brief summary of Dr. Felice’s accomplishments over the past 13 years reflects the impact that a committed and visionary leader can have,” said Terence R. Flotte, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the School of Medicine, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medicine and professor of pediatrics. “Her successor will inherit a department with a remarkable record of achievement and growth under her leadership.”

Under Felice, the number of faculty in the department doubled and the UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center won membership in the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions. She is the principal investigator on the UMMS arm of the landmark 20-year National Children’s Study, the largest study to be conducted in the United States to assess the effects of environmental and genetic factors on child and human health. She also helped raise the reputation of the UMass Pediatric Residency Program to national prominence, making it among the most highly coveted in the country by incoming interns.

Catarina I. Kiefe, MD, PhD, chair of quantitative health sciences, will chair the search committee, which is currently being formed.

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