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Home-style welcome for new medical students

By Sandra Gray and Lisa Larson

August 07, 2015
  • Maureen Ogamba, Class of 2019
  • Tiffany Chen, Class of 2019
  • Melissa Fischer, MD, MEd, associate dean for undergraduate medical education in the School of Medicine, brought daughters C.C. Schleinitz, 11, and Madeleine Schleinitz, 14, to the picnic.
  • First-year MD/PhD students Jordan Smith (center) and Nicholas Peterson (right) with Smith’s husband Phil Culbertson
  • School of Medicine Dean Terence R.Flotte chats with Thomas Ford, a second-year student who attended the picnic to welcome the Class of 2019.
  • Chancellor Michael F. Collins greets second-year student Brooks Willar.
  • Supreetha Gubbala and Hosana Mamata of the Class of 2019
  • Class of 2019 students Anthony Tran and Elias Nammour. Tran attended UMass Boston and Nammour attended UMass Lowell.
  • First-year students Jessica Pierre-Francois and Rebecca Ukaegbu

Corn on the cob, hamburgers and a side of hospitality were on the menu for the welcome picnic at UMass Chan Medical School on Thursday, Aug. 6, as Chancellor Michael F. Collins, Dean Terence R. Flotte,  faculty and upperclassmen greeted the incoming School of Medicine Class of 2019.

“It’s surreal, my dream is coming true,” said first-year medical student Tiffany Chen, arriving at UMMS after earning an undergrad degree at Wellesley College. “I've wanted to be a doctor since before I can remember. My mother says I've been saying it since I was 4.”

The 125 students of the new class include 75 women and 50 men, 12 of whom are pursuing MD/PhD degrees. Twenty of the students are the first generation in their families to attend college, and 14 hold undergraduate degrees from UMass campuses.