Stories of giving

After creating an endowed scholarship for students at the T.H. Chan School of Medicine in 2022, George Wilding, MD'80 and his wife, Helen Wilding, recently deepened their commitment—and the scholarship’s impact—with an additional generous gift. Their continued investment is making a medical education more accessible for aspiring physicians today and for generations to come.

Mark A. Goldberg, MD’86, and his wife, Nancy E. Goldberg, MSN, RN, APRN, PPCNP-BC​, of Lexington, recently endowed a scholarship at UMass Chan Medical School to help offset the cost of tuition for students pursuing medicine. Mark credits UMass Chan with paving the way for his own distinguished career as a leader in helping to advance transformative treatments and health care technologies, and is committed to expanding opportunities for aspiring physicians.

Patrick Halvorsen was a typical teen—with an uncommon spirit of compassion—when he was diagnosed in 2018 with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer that would take his life three years later at age 17. After his passing, the Halvorsen family initiated a fundraiser to support pediatric brain cancer research at UMass Chan Medical School, perpetuating Patrick’s legacy of kindness and hope. 

After their son, Michael, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) at age 4, Theresa and Rob Capolongo channeled grief into action. Determined to push toward better treatments—and ultimately a cure—they founded Michael’s Cause, a grassroots, all-volunteer nonprofit based in Staten Island, New York, where they live with Michael and his two siblings. Since 2011, Michael’s Cause has directly funded more than $3 million in DMD research and support, including $250,000 directed to the Duchenne Program at UMass Chan Medical School. 

As a Worcester County native, Justin Maykel, MD, often meets familiar faces through his medical practice—a unique privilege he never takes for granted. Among his patients, the late George (Geof) F. Booth II stands out as a remarkable, enduring presence in his life and career. Before he passed away in 2023, Geof and his wife, Penny Booth, bequeathed generous funding that was used to establish the Geof and Penny Booth Colorectal Surgery Research Fellowship. 

Remembered for her generous spirit and her capacity to connect deeply with others, Kerri Appleton’s life was tragically cut short in January 2025 by cholangiocarcinoma, a rare, incurable cancer. In a fitting tribute, the inaugural Kerri Appleton Legacy Golf Tournament, held last summer, raised critical funds for cholangiocarcinoma research at UMass Chan Medical School—with the hope of changing the course of this intractable disease. 

Since 2011, Shrewsbury’s Turkey Trot for the Memory has united the local community on Thanksgiving morning to run or walk in support of people and families facing Alzheimer's disease. A generous portion of funds raised through the 2024 event are supporting the research of Honghuang Lin, PhD, professor of medicine and co-director of the Program in Digital Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School. 

A new scholarship from Tiffany A. Moore Simas, MD’00, R’04, MPH, MEd, MHCM, and her husband Brett Simas, MBA, will ease the financial stress on aspiring physicians at UMass Chan Medical School, where Tiffany is the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology, chair and professor of obstetrics & gynecology, and professor of pediatrics, psychiatry & behavioral sciences, and population & quantitative health sciences.

The last time we caught up with Donna Grogan, MD, R'87, P'18, in fall 2022, she and her husband, Paul Grogan, had recently endowed a scholarship for students in the T.H. Chan School of Medicine. Three years later, the Grogans have endowed a second scholarship that, when combined with their first, will fully offset the annual tuition of an in-state medical student, starting with the 2025-2026 school year. 

Two key priorities were front of mind when Dan Sullivan, MD’86, MPH, and his wife Anne Melvin considered how they could make a meaningful philanthropic impact. One was profound concern about the growing shortage of primary care physicians (PCPs) in Massachusetts. The other was gratitude to UMass Chan Medical School, the institution that made Dan’s fulfilling career in medicine possible.