The Vivian W. Pinn, M.D. Scholarship

Please join us to honor Dr. Vivian Pinn, former assistant dean of student affairs and associate professor of pathology at Tufts University School of Medicine. The Vivian W. Pinn, MD, Scholarship Initiative will honor Dr. Vivian Pinn with a scholarship and room-naming ceremony during Reunion Weekend, May 6-8, 2011.

You can participate in several ways: by making a financial contribution to the Pinn Scholarship Initiative, by join our Planning Committee to help raise money from other alumni and friends, or by submitting a story about how Dr. Pinn contributed to your personal and professional development.

Since her departure from Tufts, Dr. Pinn has continued to serve as a role model, mentor and a source of inspiration for countless physicians and scientists. After serving as chair of pathology at Howard University, she was named in 1991 the director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health where she continues to ensure that women’s health is a high priority.

At Tufts, Dr. Pinn gave generously and without limits to all her students. Some she advised academically; others she helped find loans and scholarships; and others she helped deal with personal challenges. She gave confidence, direction, emotional support, and good counsel; she was a great listener, and offered valuable insights.

To honor the service and support they received from Dr. Pinn a number of alumni from the TUSM classes between 1970 and 1985 have organized to establish the scholarship. The hope is to create at least a half-tuition scholarship in her name, and also to name a space in the newly renovated Sackler Student Center in honor of Dr. Pinn.

For information on how you can help, please contact Richard Morse, senior associate director of development at the School of Medicine, at (617) 636-4068 or at richard.morse@tufts.edu.

Dr. Bruce Pastor, M68, J95P and his wife Joyce Field Pastor, J67, J95P contribute to the Jaharis Family Challenge at TUSM.

On a recent visit to the School of Medicine’s urban campus, gastroenterologist Bruce Pastor, M68, J95P, hardly recognized his alma mater. “My classmates and I flourished not because of the space around us, but in spite of it,” he said. The renovated Sackler Center at the Medical School represents “a quantum leap in improvement since I was a student.”

Dr. Pastor and his wife, Joyce Field Pastor, J67, J95P, pledged $100,000 to name the eighth-floor conference room in the refurbished campus center. Thanks to a challenge by the Jaharis Family Foundation, the impact of their gift has been doubled.

Through their family foundation, Overseers Steven Jaharis, M87, and Michael Jaharis contributed $15 million toward the renovation of the Sackler Center, the creation of a new Clinical Skills and Simulation Center, and financial aid.

The campus project is seen to be transforming medical education and the quality of life among medical students at Tufts. The clinical skills center and three floors of the Sackler building already are open and in use by students.

Under the Jaharis challenge, Tufts agreed to raise an additional $7.5 million to release a portion of the Jaharis gift for scholarships once the construction projects are complete. The Pastors are among the first to step forward in response to the Jaharis challenge.

“Now is the right time to give, especially in this challenging economic environment,” said Dr. Pastor, founder of a seven-physician practice in Boston that is affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “It’s an opportunity to help provide scholarship funds while showing support for the new campus center.”

A former president and reunion chair of the Medical School’s Alumni Association, Pastor made up his mind during his 40th reunion to make this gift.

“My reunion gave me a chance then to reflect on how much I owe to Tufts,” he says. “The institution launched my career and gave me extraordinary opportunities, life-changing relationships—I met my wife there—and professors who became invaluable mentors.

“I’ve always known that I would one day want to give a significant gift to the school. I was waiting for the right occasion.”