The UMass Chan Women’s Faculty Committee Awards, presented by the committee in collaboration with the Office of Faculty Affairs, honor faculty members, regardless of sex or gender identity, who have demonstrated excellence in education, community service, scientific achievement or patient care.
On Thursday, May 21, the Women’s Faculty Committee honored eight such faculty during a noontime ceremony held in the Albert Sherman Center and on Zoom.
The co-chairs of the Women’s Faculty Committee, Abita Raj, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry & behavioral sciences, and Thin Malatesta, PhD’21, RN, assistant professor of nursing, provided welcome remarks for the 26th awards ceremony. Cynthia Barginere, RN, DNP, chief operating officer of UMass Memorial Health and president of UMass Memorial Community Entities, Inc., provided the keynote address: “Leading Forward: Mentorship, Courage and Advancing Women in Academic Medicine.”
“Leadership is not about title. It’s about impact,” Dr. Barginere said. “Our responsibility is to make the path more visible and more accessible for those who come behind us.”
Barginere touched on four leadership principles: authenticity, courage, optimism and balance.
“You can only sustain your impact as a leader if you sustain yourself in environments like ours where expectations are high and demands are constant. This is not just a personal choice. It’s a leadership responsibility, because how we model balance shapes what others believe is possible,” she said.
Mary Ahn, MD, vice provost for faculty affairs and professor of psychiatry & behavioral sciences, celebrated women faculty and staff who were promoted in the past year, noting that UMass Chan outpaces peer institutions in gender representation among faculty from instructor to professor. UMass Chan has higher percentages of women across all categories represented in the Association of American Medical Colleges’ State of Women in Academic Medicine 2023-2024 report, including students and residents. Dr. Ahn pointed out that UMass Chan-Lahey’s five vice chairs are women and 50 percent of endowed faculty positions are held by women.
The co-chairs of the Women’s Faculty Committee Awards Subcommittee, Kristina Gracey, MD, MPH, associate professor of family medicine & community health, and Vandana Nagpal, MD, associate professor of medicine, presented the following awards:
Christine K. Cassel, MD’76, Faculty Scholar Award: Katharine Barnard, MD’00, associate professor of family medicine & community health
Early Career Achievement in Science and Health Award: Gianna Wilkie, MD’16, MSci’22, assistant professor of obstetrics & gynecology
Early Career Clinical Excellence Award: Jennifer Bolton, DO, MEHP, assistant professor of emergency medicine, UMass Chan-Baystate
Excellence in Clinical Service Award: Teresa Pazdral, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine
Outstanding Community Service Award: William Soares III, MD, MS, associate professor of emergency medicine, UMass Chan-Baystate
Outstanding Mentoring Award: Pranoti Mandrekar, PhD, professor of medicine
Sarah Stone Excellence in Education Award: Anindita Deb, MD, associate professor of neurology
Science and Health Achievements Award: Jennifer Po-wen Wang, MD, professor of medicine
The event concluded with closing remarks from Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Elisabeth Chair for the Dean of Medicine, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine.
