Letting in the Light
Clockwise from left: Mary Jaharis, M87P, and Steven Jaharis, M87, at the new laboratory. The sparkling new lab. Guests speak with anatomical gifts program director Michael Doyle, Medical Board of Advisors member Joshua A.S. Young, and M. Hollis Young. Photos: Anna Miller
On December 14, things got a lot brighter for Tufts medical students. That evening marked the grand opening of the new light-filled, state-of-the-art Michael Jaharis Jr., M87P, H15, Anatomy Laboratory (the Michael J. Anatomy Lab, for short). Made possible by a $15 million gift from the Jaharis Family Foundation, the facility is named for Michael Jaharis, the longtime chairman of the School of Medicine’s Board of Advisors and a university trustee emeritus, who passed away in 2016.
“During the study of gross anatomy, medical students meet their first ‘patient,’” said School of Medicine Dean Harris Berman. “With this wonderful new laboratory, we will be able to integrate technology and interactive learning with the classic anatomy dissection experience to better prepare our students to become great clinicians.”
Guests at the opening night party toured the new third-floor space, which offers ample natural light. At nearly twice the size of the previous lab—in the windowless basement of the M&V Building—it increases the square feet per student from sixteen to thirty (there will be five instead of six students per dissection table). The lab—which will also be used to train dental and physician assistant students—has computer screens at every table, updated ventilation and lighting systems, and dedicated changing areas and locker rooms. An adjacent Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) classroom, based on a design by MIT, can hold up to sixty students at stations set up for interacting with each other and their instructor.
To outfit the space, the Jaharis Family Foundation encouraged donors to give to a Clinical Skills and Medical Education Technology Fund by naming spaces and sponsoring tables. The fund will help equip the anatomy lab and the Clinical Skills and Simulation Center with portable ultrasound machines and GoPro cameras, for example, and additional faculty support. (See the list of donors as of December 8, 2017 at right.)
Through the years, donations from the Jaharis Family Foundation have established an endowed professorship in family medicine and scholarships—including the Jaharis Family Loan Reduction Scholarship for Family Medicine—and transformed Tufts’ Health Sciences campus through large-scale construction projects. To honor their generosity, Berman presented members of the family with Dean’s Medals at the opening event, which also kicked off the school’s 125th anniversary celebration. “We know that our school and our students can do even more for patients, for biomedical science, and for public health in our next 125 years,” Berman said to the family, “because you have set us up for success.”
Clockwise from left: Lily Lawn-Tsao, M77, Sandra Sha, M97, and Sybal Sha. Tufts Medical Alumni Association Vice President Tejas Mehta, M92,A19P, and Matthew Rosen, M92, A19P. Tufts President Anthony Monaco; Elaine, Mary, and Steven Jaharis; and Dean Harris Berman after the presentation of Dean's Medals. Photos: Anna Miller
Room Naming Gifts
Dr. and Mrs. Richard M. Dupee, A67, M71
Standiford Helm, II, M.D., M77
Lily Lawn-Tsao, M.D., M77, and Joseph Hung-Yuan Tsao
Dr. Walter M. Rosen, Sandra J. Rosen, and Brian Rosen (in memory of Abraham Everett Rosen, M39)
Robert K. Rosenthal, M62, J89P, and Esther Rosenthal, J89P
Pamela Sherwood, M17, and the Ned and Emily Sherwood Family Foundation
Dissection Table Sponsorships
Roger W. Ashley, A61, M65, A89P, Edward J. Dunn, M65, and C. William Kaiser, M65
Andrew M. Blecher, M99, President and CEO of Sports Medicine Sciences
Steven W. Braunstein, M82, and Edgar G. Braunstein, M51 (in memory of Sigmund C. Braunstein, M1922)
Patrick F. Brophy, M.D., M85
Aristides I. Cruz Jr., A02, M06, and Ashley T. Peterson, A03, M12
Ronald A. DeLellis, M66, J96P, and Dolores T. DeLellis, J96P
Kristen P. Eckler, M94, and Todd Eckler
David R. Fanti, A80, M84, A17P, MS18P, and Sherry Fanti, A17P, MS18P
In loving memory of Elizabeth Johnson Finch, RN, and Mazie Livingston Delafield, family leaders who led the way in health and education, from Maturin D. Finch, M87, M18P, and Carolyn J. Sedor, M86, M18P
Vincent Iacono, M71, M01P, and Joan Claire Iacono, M01P
Ana Lopes Johnson, M01, Trent Johnson, Dominic Johnson, and Natalia Johnson
Richard A. Levin, M.D., D.M.D., A78, M87
In honor of Matthew Levitsky, M17, by Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth Levitsky, M86, M17P
In honor of Lenore Robin and Dr. Noel Robin on his retirement from Stamford Hospital, by Dr. Heather Boxerman, J92, M96, A21P, and Dr. Jerrold Boxerman, A21P
George Schneider, M65, A90P
Patricia Schneider, J63, A90P
Julie L. Seely, M83 (in memory of Nathan T. Seely Jr.)
Sandra J. Sha, M97, and the Sha-Heysek Family
Stan J. Wasilewski, M87
Joshua A. S. Young and M. Hollis Young