Worcester businessman, two former lt. governors, Nobel laureate to lead search for next UMass Chan chancellor

Photo I Courtesy of UMass Chan Medical School UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester

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UMass Chan Medical School has launched a national search for its next leader ahead of the upcoming retirement of Chancellor Dr. Michael Collins in July, forming a search committee featuring a number of power players from Central Massachusetts and beyond.

The 20-member committee will be led by UMass Chan Trustee David Brunelle, co-founder and managing director of Worcester-based North Pointe Wealth Management.

The committee features two former lieutenant governors of Massachusetts: UMass Memorial Health Vice President of Business Development Karyn Polito, who served as lieutenant governor from 2015 to 2023, and Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Timothy Murrary, who served as lieutenant governor from 2007 to 2013 and mayor of Worcester from 2002 to 2007.

A man in a suit in front of large windows with cityscape behind

Photo | Matt Wright

Norman Peters

Other members of the search committee include , owner of Worcester-based law firm Peters & Sowydra, director on the UMass Foundation board and 2025 inductee into the WBJ Hall of Fame, Javier Reyes, chancellor of UMass Amherst, and Craig Mello, a 2006 Nobel laureate for his work studying RNA.

“UMass Chan is a world-renowned public medical school and research institution dedicated to advancing scientific understanding and discovery,” Marty Meehan, president of the University of Massachusetts system, said in a Wednesday press release announcing the search committee. “For nearly two decades, Chancellor Michael Collins has skillfully led our state’s only public medical school. “In that time, UMass Chan became a world-class academic health sciences center that attracts students and researchers from around the world … I am confident that Chair Brunelle will lead a search that is exhaustive, inclusive, and ultimately identifies a competitive pool of finalists.”

The rest of the search committee is:

Dr. Rita Amoah, assistant professor at UMass Chan
Bethany Berry, student trustee and a MD/PhD candidate at UMass Chan
Mary Burns, vice chair of the UMass Board of Trustees and chair of the UMass Building Authority Board
Katherine Craven, executive vice president, administration and finance at Babson College and director on the UMass Foundation board
Edward D’Alelio, treasurer & investment committee chair of the UMass Foundation
Katherine Fitzgerald, professor, vice chair, department of medicine and vice provost for basic science research at UMass Chan
James Julian, CEO of the UMass Foundation
Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, UMass Memorial Health Care endowed chair in biomedical research and vice provost for research
Justin Maykel, chair of surgery, professor of surgery, and chief of the division of colon and rectal surgery at UMass Chan
Noreen Okwara, member of the UMass Board of Trustees
Michael Stauff, chair of the department of orthopedics and physical rehabilitation, endowed chair in orthopedics, and associate professor of orthopedics at UMass Chan
A.J. Marian Walhout, professor and chair of the department of systems biology and chair in biomedical research at UMass Chan
Marcellette Williams, UMass Amherst chancellor emerita
Charles Wu, member of the UMass Board of Trustees and the UMass Building Authority Board

Stephen Karam is an ex-officio member of the search committee through his role as chair of the UMass Board of Trustees.

“The search committee is made up of an impressive group of individuals who care deeply about the future of UMass Chan,” Karam said in the press release. “I am confident their diverse experiences and viewpoints will result in a successful search, and I am excited to see the high caliber of candidates the committee will bring forward.”

Isaacson, Miller, a national search firm based in Boston, is assisting with the search.

Photo | WBJ File

While Dr. Michael Collins will step down from his role as chancellor next year, he is not going into retirement. Instead, he will stay on with UMass Chan as a professor and university advocate.

The search for Collins’ successor comes as UMass Chan deals with a budget deficit stemming from the President Donald Trump Administration's proposed caps to NIH funding and additional threats of further cuts to funding for universities sticking with their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Collins told WBJ the federal turmoil did not impact his decision to step down following the celebration of his 70th birthday this year, saying he plans to continue to teach at the school as a professor and assist with its fundraising efforts.

Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.