Highly accomplished faculty named to endowed chairs

The University’s Board of Trustees voted to approve the establishment of six new endowed chairs, the appointment of highly accomplished faculty to five chairs, and the renaming of an existing endowed chair to memorialize a cherished member of the community on Wednesday, June 11.  

Three endowments were made possible by the generosity of Nathalie and Nicolas Giauque, who live in the San Francisco Bay area. The new Elisabeth Chairs, described further below, honor the memory of their eldest daughter who tragically died at the age of 6.  

The support of Arlene Ash, PhD, professor of population & quantitative health sciences and chief of the Division of Biostatistics and Health Services Research in the Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences, has led to the creation of the Arlene Ash Chair in Health Services Research and the Arlene Ash Chair in Biostatistics. Additionally, and thanks to UMass Memorial President and CEO Eric Dickson, MD’95, and Catherine Jones, MD’93, the Dickson Family Chair in Emergency Medicine has been established. The Medical School now has 82 endowed chairs and professorships, thanks to its generous benefactors.

Terence R. Flotte, MD, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, has been appointed the inaugural holder of the Elisabeth Chair for the Dean of Medicine, established to support the dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine’s ongoing leadership of education, scholarship, research and clinical care.  

Since joining UMass Chan in 2007, Dr. Flotte has spearheaded the establishment of numerous innovative programs and cutting-edge departments in dynamic fields such as bioinformatics, RNA therapeutics, systems biology, gene therapy and digital medicine. He also has nurtured and sustained a distinctive collaborative environment across departments as well as between researchers and clinicians.  

An internationally renowned gene therapy pioneer, Flotte is investigating the use of gene therapy for rare genetic diseases, including alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and Tay-Sachs disease. In 1995, he led the team at Johns Hopkins that became the first to use the adeno-associated virus, or AAV, as a vehicle to deliver corrective genes to targeted sites in the body, including the damaged airways of adults with cystic fibrosis. He is editor-in-chief of gene therapy’s oldest journal family, Human Gene Therapy, and president of the American Society of Cell and Gene Therapy. 

Previously, Flotte held the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professorship in Medical Education.  

Craig L. Peterson, PhD, professor of molecular medicine, has been appointed the inaugural holder of the Elisabeth Chair I, established to support an academically distinguished member of the faculty. 

Dr. Peterson, who joined UMass Chan in 1992, is an internationally recognized leader in the field of gene regulation whose studies have illuminated the understanding of signal transduction and transcription factor binding in the context of chromosomal structure. His groundbreaking work on chromatin remodeling enzymes and biophysics of chromatin fibers has laid the foundation for the international field of chromatin biology, with major implications for understanding the role of chromatin in gene regulation, genome stability and cancer. In recognition of his stellar contributions to research, he was awarded the 2024 Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Scholarship, the highest award given to a UMass Chan faculty member. 

Peterson has formally led medical and graduate student teaching continuously since 1994 and has mentored many graduate students, postdocs, undergraduates and junior faculty. 

Christopher M. Sassetti, PhD, professor of microbiology, has been appointed the inaugural holder of the Elisabeth Chair II, established to support a UMass Chan faculty member whose ongoing scholarly contributions have brought great distinction and renown to the Medical School. 

Dr. Sassetti, who joined UMass Chan in 2004, is an internationally recognized leader in research on tuberculosis (TB), a major global health challenge that is responsible for more than one million deaths annually. His research has helped position UMass Chan as a recognized center for TB research. He has defined the critical molecular interactions between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its human host, and how these affect host resistance, immune evasion and the pathophysiology of the disease. 

Sassetti has served as a member of the Foundations of Medicine Curriculum Committee and Basic Science Evaluation Board and as chair of the Basic Science Evaluation Board. He has formally led Medical Student Teaching in Microbiology, as well as PhD Student Teaching, on a continuously since 2005, and he has been a sought-after mentor for many graduate students, postdocs, undergraduates and junior faculty. 

Kenneth L. Rock, MD, chair and professor of pathology, has been appointed the inaugural holder of the UMass Chan Medical School Chair in Biomedical Research, established in 2024 to provide meaningful support to an academically distinguished member of the faculty. 

Dr. Rock is an internationally recognized leader in the field of molecular immunology who has made numerous important contributions to the understanding of molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying key aspects of the immune response to pathogens and cancer cells. In his role as an academic department chair, he has worked to foster the academic research development of junior faculty and residents who are interested in pursuing research during their careers. 

Rock also serves as a mentor and role model for graduate students, postdocs, undergraduates and junior faculty. 

Anne C. Larkin, MD, associate professor of surgery and vice provost and senior associate dean for educational affairs, has been appointed the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor in Medical Education, established in 1988 to support the educational activities of a senior institutional leader.

Dr. Larkin was recruited in 2001 to join UMass Chan as an assistant professor of surgery and director of the general surgery clerkship. Since then, she has been promoted to numerous leadership roles across her department and the institution. She is a military veteran, having served in the U.S. Navy from 1993 to 2001 including as a general medical officer at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Sigonella, Sicily; the ship’s surgeon on the USS George Washington in Norfolk, Virginia; and staff surgeon at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. 

Larkin has dedicated her academic career to educational administration and leadership through which she has advanced the educational mission of the institution. She has been active in teaching and contributing to the development of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine’s curriculum and educational tracks and has advised and mentored many students, residents and faculty. 

Larkin maintains a career-long commitment to patient care and serves as a practicing breast and endocrine surgeon at UMass Memorial Health. 

Dorothy P. Schafer, PhD, associate professor of neurobiology, who last year was appointed the inaugural holder of the UMass Chan Medical School Chair in Biomedical Research I, will continue to hold this endowed chair, now renamed the Molly McGovern Chair in Biomedical Research. The renamed endowment honors the life and memory of Congressman Jim McGovern’s beloved daughter, Molly, who died unexpectedly on April 23. Molly was a 23-year-old senior at Northeastern University and had been diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2019. 

Dr. Schafer, who joined UMass Chan in 2015, has contributed in pivotal ways to the understanding of the role of microglia in synaptic remodeling, memory and neuroinflammation, illuminating links between neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. She made the first fundamental discovery that a resident immune cell of the brain—microglia—is critical in shaping developing brain circuits by removing excess neuronal synapses. Her current research explores how the immune and nervous systems interact to regulate the development and function of the nervous system in health and disease, including multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. 

In 2017, Schafer received the Young Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation and, in 2024, the prestigious UPenn Mahoney Institute Rising Star Award.