The University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation (UMBF) recognized its Distinguished Service Award recipient and the UMB Catalyst for Excellence Award winners during its “Celebrating Excellence: Honoring Service, Philanthropy, and Volunteerism” event May 2 at the M&T Bank Exchange.
UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, presided over the event, telling the 170 attendees that the funds provided through philanthropy help sustain the University and advance its mission to improve the human condition and serve the public good.
Henry Lee (second from left) is joined by (from left) UMSOD Dean Mark Reynolds, UMB Foundation Board of Trustees Chair Harry Knipp, and UMB President Bruce Jarrell after receiving the Distinguished Service Award.
“Tonight we celebrate the advantages that all of you bring to the University of Maryland, Baltimore beyond our state funding,” Jarrell said in his opening remarks. “We have clinical programs and many research initiatives, but the generous contributions that come from you — our donors, our friends, our alumni — make us an even stronger institution, stronger than we would be without you, our extraordinary volunteers.
“Your support of UMB is a long-term commitment — as alumni, as faculty, as friends. All of you are people who believe in the University and our mission. And I thank you for that.”
(See photo gallery below.)
UMBF Board of Trustees chair Harry C. Knipp, MD, FACR, presented Henry Y. Lee, DDS ’79, an alumnus of the School of Dentistry (UMSOD), with the Distinguished Service Award, which annually recognizes the outstanding achievements of a volunteer who has substantially contributed to enhancing and sustaining UMB.
Knipp said that Lee has been an active donor and volunteer with UMSOD for more than three decades and in 2017 launched the Dr. Henry Lee Scholarship, which provides financial support for UMSOD students who intend to pursue a career in general dentistry. Lee also sits on the school’s Board of Visitors and serves on the UMSOD Dean’s Faculty, a group of volunteer practitioners who guide and mentor students through their clinical education and provide quality care to patients in the school’s clinics.
“Dr. Lee has lectured internationally and locally and is a valued member of several esteemed dental organizations,” said Knipp, who noted that his sons Alexander F. Lee, DDS ’22, and Justin D. Lee, DDS ’23, are UMSOD graduates who work with him at his Olney, Md., practice. “Dr. Lee also has been instrumental in connecting UMSOD’s dean to legislators, decision-makers, and other influential people who have assisted the School of Dentistry in securing the critical funds necessary for student success, patient care, research, and clinical operations.”
The seven Catalysts for Excellence were announced by the respective schools’ deans, who provided brief remarks about their philanthropic work. The annual award honors individuals for exemplifying powerful advocacy for success, achievement, and philanthropy for their schools while serving as visionaries for future progress.
The deans took turns talking about the Catalyst for Excellence honorees, starting with UMSOD Dean Mark A. Reynolds, DDS, PhD, MA, who recognized Barry L. Cohan, DDS ’74, PEDS ’76, for dedicating over 40 years of his life to dental practice and community service. Reynolds also noted that Cohan was a past president of the UMSOD Alumni Association Board of Directors and a current member of the Board of Visitors. “Dr. Cohan's journey is one of unwavering commitment to dentistry and community betterment,” Reynolds said.
Graduate School Dean Kenneth H. Wong, PhD, had high praise for Leslie B. Glickman, PT, PhD, saying her “work has transcended professional boundaries and created opportunities for faculty and students from a wide range of disciplines.” Wong pointed out that Glickman has provided essential funding for the Costa Rica Faculty Development Institute, “where faculty use the immersive experience to embrace global learning, which is not centered around mobility and travel, but on developing student capacity to navigate global conditions and address interconnected issues, trends, and systems.”
Next up was Francis King Carey School of Law Dean Renée McDonald Hutchins, JD, who talked about Derrick D. Milburn, JD ’13, and his work as head coach of the school’s highly successful Thurgood Marshall Trial Team. “He cultivates excellence through an outsized commitment to our students,” Hutchins said of Milburn, who is an adjunct professor at Maryland Carey Law and works for the Department of Homeland Security. “He is a great mentor and creates an incredible sense of belonging for so many of our students.”
School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, discussed the contributions of Christine C. Osborne and the Osborne family. In addition to other donations, Osborne and her late husband, Hamish, established the Hamish S. & Christine C. Osborne Distinguished Professorship of Advanced Pulmonary Care at UMSOM as an expression of gratitude for the exceptional care provided by Hamish’s medical team after a lung transplant. “Their firsthand experience in how advancements in medical care and discovery can transform a health care journey led them to contribute significantly to advance research with the goal of alleviating suffering for patients facing lung diseases and other chronic diseases,” Gladwin said.
Gladwin was joined onstage by University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) President and CEO Bert W. O’Malley, MD, who said the UMSOM-UMMC partnership “demonstrates what it takes to succeed at the highest levels — to deliver the care, the innovation, and the discovery that we all feel good about. I want to thank you all for your support, your passion, and your partnership.”
Yolanda Ogbolu, PhD, NNP, FNAP, FAAN, the Bill and Joanne Conway Dean of the School of Nursing (UMSON), praised Malinda Peeples, MS ’97, RN, CDCES, FADCES, for her support of the nursing school, which includes being a past president of UMSON’s Alumni Association and a member of its Board of Visitors. “Malinda stands as a beacon of innovation in the fields of diabetes education and digital health,” Ogbolu said, adding that Peeples was the first UMSON alumna appointed to the UMBF Board of Trustees.
Sarah L.J. Michel, PhD, dean of the School of Pharmacy, honored the PATIENTS Professors Academy’s (PPA) Advisory Board, which has helped raise more than $2 million to make PPA financially accessible to all who apply and to sustain the five-week online program that advances the PATIENTS Program’s mission. “Participants play an instrumental role in bringing their lived experience as patients to improve how research is designed and conducted and how research results are disseminated to improve population health,” Michel said.
School of Social Work Dean Judy L. Postmus, PhD, ACSW, thanked Sue Wolman, MSW ’79, for establishing the Susan Wolman Scholarship for Work with Children and Families, among other philanthropic gestures. “She also created the Peace Corps Fellowship Endowment, which supports returning Peace Corps volunteers who are interested in pursuing a social work degree,” Postmus said. “Sue graduated from our Master of Social Work program, served on the Board of Advisors for six years, and has remained an ambassador and supporter of the school and its community programs.”
(Read more about the Catalyst for Excellence honorees.)