UMSOM Faculty Speakers Deliver Inspirational Messages at UMB’s 2nd Annual Faculty Convocation

Convocation Focuses on Bringing Change Through Community Engagement

Two faculty from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), along with Glenn Canares, DDS, MSD, Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, delivered compelling keynote addresses at the UMB Faculty Convocation held on September 14, 2023. With the hope of inspiring faculty and staff at the beginning of the new academic year, the celebration recognized faculty achievements and honored the 2023-2024 cohort of UMB Distinguished University Professors.

UMSOM’s Laundette Jones, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, Interim Co-Director for the Program in Health Equity and Population Health (HEPH), and Associate Director of STAR-PREP, delivered the first keynote address.

She began by recounting the hardships she experienced as an unhoused 11-year-old girl living in a tent. “You know how you feel when you’re driving down [Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard] and you go over the overpass, and you see people living in a tent? Well, I know the perspectives of being in a tent and looking at others when they look down on it, too,” said Dr. Jones.

For Dr. Jones, those months spent living in a tent seem like a lifetime ago; however, the challenging moments throughout her childhood taught her to understand others’ lived experiences in a way that a formal education could not provide.

“On the academic side, I feel multilingual. I have a background in basic sciences. I also have the community and population and public health speak,” remarked Dr. Jones. “But I also have unique knowledge and a lived experience, where I do not have to read about what it means [to be in] poverty, or to go through simulated experiences. I have lived through it.”

Amal Mattu, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Vice Chair of Academic Affairs at UMSOM, delivered an inspirational message about achieving far-off goals through steady perseverance. “There is a good chance that many of you may have those thousand-mile journeys right now… But you must remember the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Then, you just keep on walking despite the frustration,” said Dr. Mattu.

Echoing earlier remarks from the keynote speakers, UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, emphasized the need for the UMB community to spearhead the positive changes needed in the local community.

“The choice is ours. The choice before us is we could wait for somebody — the city, the state, I don’t know who — to come by and fix the problems, clean up the risks around our campus,” said Dr. Jarrell. But, he added, we might be waiting a long time.

“Well, we have another choice,” Dr. Jarrell said. The other choice is to actively engage — to step up as a university… I know that is what I am going to do. And I know I can count on all of you to support us in this effort to make this environment a greater environment.”

Read the full UMB news release

Congratulations to UMB’S 2023 Distinguished University Professors!

The title of Distinguished University Professor is the highest appointment bestowed on a faculty member at UMB. It is a recognition not just of excellence, but also of impact and significant contribution to the nominee’s field, knowledge, profession, and/or practice.

William T. Carpenter, MD

Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, School of Medicine

Dr. Carpenter’s major professional interest has been severe mental illness, especially schizophrenia, including phenomenology, etiology, pathophysiology, anatomy, and treatment. He has made original and fundamental contributions in psychopathology, assessment methodology, testing of novel treatments, and research ethics. His specific professional assignments include service on the National Institute of Mental Health’s (NIMH) Intramural Research Program Board of Scientific Counselors and as a consultant and reviewer for NIMH and the National Institutes of Health on many topics. He chaired the NIMH Research Scientist Career Development Committee and the NIMH National Schizophrenia Plan Committee on Treatment Research. He also is the editor-in-chief of Schizophrenia Bulletin, has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals, and has authored more than 400 publications.

Robert K. Ernst, PhD

Dr. Paul and Mrs. Jean Corcoran Endowed Professor and Chair, Department of Microbial Pathogenesis

School of Dentistry

Dr. Ernst has been at the School of Dentistry since 2008. He also is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the School of Medicine. Dr. Ernst’s lab has been at the forefront of innovative research studying the molecular basis by which bacteria modify the lipid component of their membrane, specifically lipopolysaccharide, and how these alterations affect normal host innate immune system responses, potentially resulting in septic shock. He has received more than $20 million in research funding since 2008. This work has resulted in more than 190 peer-reviewed manuscripts with 17,000-plus citations. He was named UMB’s 2017 Founders Week Researcher of the Year and 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year.

Claire Fraser, PhD

Dean E. Albert Reece Endowed Professor and Founding Director, Institute for Genome Sciences, School of Medicine

A pioneer and global leader in genomic medicine, Dr. Fraser is one of the most highly cited investigators in microbiology. In 1995, she was the first to map the complete genetic code of a free-living organism — Haemophilus influenza — the bacterium that causes lower-respiratory tract infections and meningitis in infants and young children. This took place at the Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, MD, where she served as director from 1998 to 2007. Her discovery launched a new field of study: microbial genomics. In 2007, she launched the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS), bringing 60 researchers and staff with her. IGS now holds over 25 percent of the funding awarded by the Human Microbiome Project. She served as director of IGS until March 2023.

Donald G. Gifford, JD

Jacob A. France Professor of Torts, Francis King Carey School of Law

Professor Gifford joined the Francis King Carey School of Law in 1992. He served as dean through 1999, initiating the efforts to build the current law school building, obtaining legislative approval and funding for the building, and raising most of the private contributions for its construction. Professor Gifford’s teaching and research interests include torts, product liability, advanced torts, and legal negotiation. He is the author or co-author of five books, including a torts casebook and a legal negotiation text, and numerous articles about topics such as mass torts, product liability, technological change and tort law, how race affects the substantive law of torts, and medical malpractice.

Geoffrey Greif, PhD, MSW, LCSW-C

Professor, School of Social Work

Dr. Greif has been at the School of Social Work since 1984 and served as associate dean from 1996 to 2007. His current research, teaching, and practice interests include child abduction, family therapy, adult friendships, adult family relationships, and interracial families. He is the author of more than 150 journal articles and book chapters and 15 books, including four that he co-edited. More recently, Dr. Greif has explored horizontal relationships with the publication of “Buddy System: Understanding Male Friendships”; “Two Plus Two: Couples and Their Couple Friendships”; “Adult Sibling Relationships”; and “In-Law Relationships: Mothers, Daughters, Fathers, and Sons.” He also is a member of various community-based boards, including the Open Society Institute Leadership Council and the Shriver Hall Concert Series.

Margaret M. “Peg” McCarthy, PhD

James and Carolyn Frenkil Endowed Dean’s Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology, and Director, University of Maryland-Medicine Institute for Neuroscience Discovery, School of Medicine

Dr. McCarthy is a leading neuroscientist who has been with School of Medicine since 1993, making significant discoveries related to gender differences and the brain. Her seminal research focuses on the influence of steroid hormones on the developing brain with a special emphasis on understanding the cellular mechanisms that establish sex differences — i.e., the numerous, novel mechanisms by which steroids permanently organize the developing brain differently in men and women. Dr. McCarthy was named UMB’s Researcher of the Year in 2015 and a UMB Champion of Excellence in 2017. She has been an associate editor of Hormones and Behavior since 2004 and served as associate editor of the Journal of Neuroscience (2007-2011) and editor of Endocrinology (2008-2013).

Fadia T. Shaya, PhD, MPH

Professor, Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research, and Executive Director, Behavioral Health Resources and Technical Assistance Program, School of Pharmacy

In addition to her School of Pharmacy roles, Dr. Shaya directs the informatics core at UMB’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and is an affiliate professor at the School of Medicine. Dr. Shaya, who was UMB’s 2017 Teacher of the Year, teaches clinical and graduate policy courses and mentors pharmacy, medical, graduate, and postdoctoral students and junior faculty. Her mentees and students have taken positions in government, academia, consulting, nonprofits, and the health care industry. Her work focuses on building strategic partnerships, taking into account the social determinants of health, to optimize the effectiveness and reduce the risk of prescription drugs and medical devices. Her implementation/dissemination research is based in human data science and uses artificial intelligence and machine learning methods.

Marc Simard, MD, PhD

Dr. Bizhan Aarabi Professor in Neurotrauma and Interim Chair, Department of Physiology, School of Medicine

Dr. Simard is a nationally recognized basic science researcher who specializes in vascular neurosurgery, which includes the surgery and management of patients with stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and other vascular lesions of the brain. He also serves as chief of neurological surgery at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center. For almost 40 years, Dr. Simard has researched the role of ion channels in diseases of the central nervous system, including stroke, brain bleeds, and traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. He has written more than 260 peer-reviewed publications and has had continuous National Institutes of Health and VA funding for more than three decades. His translational work has led to the awarding of 14 U.S. and 22 international patents.

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