Photo: Bryan Goodchild
A celebrated UMass Chan Medical School faculty member has received a highly regarded honor recognizing her contributions to medical student education and training.
Melissa Fischer, MD, MEd, professor of medicine and associate vice provost for interprofessional and instructional innovation, has been named one of four recipients of the 2025 Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Awards, presented by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Dr. Fischer leads the Interprofessional Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation (iCELS), including its standardized patient and simulation programs and Innovation Lab. She is a founding member and advisor of the Health Education Academy for Leadership and Learning at UMass Chan.
Fischer’s work at UMass Chan has included two comprehensive curriculum reforms, including the Learner-centered Integrated Curriculum in 2014 and VISTA in 2022. She led the launch of the Opioid-Safe Prescribing Training Immersion and introduced current education trends and content areas such as medical errors, curricular and practice bias, and mindfulness and interprofessional practice through engaged learning modalities, such as portfolios, reflection, simulation and virtual reality.
“My goal has been to help launch new educational initiatives at UMass Chan and really push into new areas and explore things that are exciting and important, and then support other people to continue to move these ideas forward,” Fischer said.
On the faculty of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine since 2002, Fischer became associate vice provost for interprofessional and instructional innovation in 2025. She received the Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Teaching in 2022 and presented the 2023 Last Lecture, a celebration of teaching, at UMass Chan’s Educational Recognition Awards. She received the school’s inaugural Sarah Stone Excellence in Education Award in 2014 for advancing education, community and scholarship for the students and faculty of UMass Chan.
Fischer is one of three UMass Chan recipients of the Glaser Award and the first in more than 25 years. Other UMass Chan recipients include the late Guido Majno, MD, professor emeritus (1994); and Susan B. Gagliardi, PhD, professor of neurology (1999).
“It is truly humbling. The previous awardees from UMass Chan are giants in the world of medical education. This award is a recognition of UMass Chan because I am only able to do the work that I do because of the people I work with and the place in which I work.
“I am so grateful and truly lucky to be at a place where I have been able to be for nearly 25 years and continually doing things that are interesting, important, challenging and exciting.”
The AΩA Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Awards were established by the AΩA medical honor society in 1988 to recognize outstanding contributions to medical education made by gifted teachers. The award is named for longtime AΩA executive secretary Robert J. Glaser, MD. Up to four awards are presented each year.
Fischer and the other awardees will receive a $10,000 prize. UMass Chan will receive a grant of $2,500 for teaching activities, and the UMass Chan Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society will also receive a $1,000 grant to support its activities.
