UMass Chan receives $5M gift from some of UMass’s biggest donors

Photo | Courtesy of UMass Chan Medical School Donna and Robert Manning gave $5 million to UMass Chan to fund five endowed chairs.

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By Katherine Hamilton

UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester received a $5-million gift from alumni Donna and Robert Manning, the latter of whom chairs the UMass Board of Trustees.

The Mannings’ gift will provide for five new endowed chairs at the medical school, according to a Thursday press release from UMass Chan. The gift was accepted on Wednesday.

Donna and Robert Manning were responsible for a $50-million gift to the UMass system in September, which was then the largest-ever gift to the university. The Mannings both attended UMass Lowell and have committed more than $21 million to that school alone.

Donna had a 35-year career as an oncology nurse at Boston Medical Center. Robert was the president, CEO, and chair at MFS Investment Management in Boston, which manages $670 million in assets annually.

“The people and mission of UMass Chan represent the very best of the academic health sciences,” the Mannings said in a statement. “We are proud to support the faculty leaders who are so dedicated to training the next generation of physicians, nursing leaders, and scientists while taking great care of patients and families, and conducting research that will improve the health of people around the world.”

The Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chairs are as follows:

Robert Brown Jr., professor of neurology and director for the Neurotherapeutics Institute
Mary Ellen Lane, professor of neurobiology and dean of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Tiffany Moore Simas, chair and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, and population and quantitative health science
Michael Stauff, associate professor of orthopedics and physical rehabilitation, and vice chair for clinical practice in the Department of Orthopedics and Physical Rehabilitation
Joan Vitello, professor of nursing and dean of the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing