National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt to deliver UMass Chan Commencement address on June 1

UMass Chan Medical School will celebrate the accomplishments of the Classes of 2025 at Commencement on Sunday, June 1, and recognize four accomplished and inspiring individuals with honorary degrees: Marcia McNutt, PhD, president of the National Academy of Sciences; Carolyn Clancy, MD’79, assistant under secretary for health in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration; and Majid Jafar and Lynn Barghout Jafar, co-founders of the Loulou Foundation. Dr. McNutt will deliver the Commencement address.  

McNutt is a geophysicist and the first woman to lead the National Academy of Sciences, which she has done since 2016. Her prior roles have included editor-in-chief of the Science journals; director of the U.S. Geological Survey, where she led the response to several major international disasters and was awarded the U.S. Coast Guard’s Meritorious Service Medal; and president and CEO of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. McNutt began her academic career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was a named professor and directed the Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering, a partnership between MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She has served as chief or co-chief scientist on numerous deep-sea expeditions.

Dr. Clancy has served the VA Health System for more than 10 years, and has, since 2018, led the VA’s Office for Discovery, Education and Affiliate Networks, which fosters collaboration and knowledge transfer among VA educators, researchers and clinicians and its affiliates. Previously, she served as acting deputy secretary of the VA, the second-largest Cabinet department, with a $247 billion budget and more than 420,000 employees serving in VA medical centers, clinics, benefits offices and national cemeteries. Prior to serving at the VA, Clancy was director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for 11 years. A general internist and health services researcher by training, Clancy is a proud of alum of UMass Chan Medical School and completed her residency and internship in Worcester. She was a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Fellow in general internal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Clancy serves as senior associate editor of Health Services Research journal. Modern Healthcare named her a Top 50 physician executive and one of the 50 Most influential clinical executives.

Majid and Lynn Barghout Jafar co-founded the Loulou Foundation, a group dedicated to advancing science and treatments for CDKL5 deficiency disorder, a rare neuro-genetic disorder that affects their eldest daughter, Alia. Majid Jafar serves as CEO of Crescent Petroleum, the Middle East’s oldest private oil and gas company, and vice chairman of the Crescent Group of companies, which include interests in port management, logistics, venture capital, private equity and real estate. He earned degrees from Cambridge University, the University of London and Harvard Business School and has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In addition to co-founding the Loulou Foundation, Lynn Barghout Jafar founded and serves as ‘managing mum’ of High Hopes Pediatric Therapy Center in Dubai, which she conceived and created to enable children with moderate to severe special needs to maximize their potential. She holds degrees from the American University of Beirut and Cass Business School in London.

Commencement 2025 will take place on the campus green in front of the Medical School building, with more than 300 students from the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences expected to receive degrees. Guest seating will begin at 11 a.m., with the procession starting at 11:45 a.m. The ceremony will begin promptly at noon and will be available to watch live on Facebook and YouTube.