UM School of Medicine to Expand Innovative Medical Education Spaces with Gift from Entrepreneurial Leader and Alumnus Maurice N. Reid, MD '99

$1 Million Gift will Support New State-of-the-Art Gross Anatomy Laboratory

BALTIMORE, July 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced today that UMSOM will receive a new $1 million gift from Maurice N. Reid, MD '99, CEO and Medical Director, ExpressCare Urgent Care Centers, bringing his total giving to nearly $2.2 million. Dr. Reid, who has been a longtime supporter the School's initiatives, is a proud School of Medicine alumnus and member of the Dean's Board of Visitors.

The gift, in support of medical education and the recently implemented Renaissance Curriculum, will be used to renovate UMSOM's gross anatomy laboratories and modernize that teaching environment for medical students.

"The School of Medicine is deeply grateful to Dr. Reid for his generosity in providing a transformational gift that will undoubtedly improve the learning environment for all of our students," said Dean Reece, who is also Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. "This gift will help guide UMSOM into the future by providing the technologically advanced infrastructure required to equip our students with the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary to practice medicine."

Dr. Reid noted that modernized teaching facilities and new technology are essential for the implementation of innovative learning methods. "As a physician and graduate of the School of Medicine, I recognize the importance of being on the front lines of medicine and medical education," said Dr. Reid. "I am thrilled to be able to support the Renaissance Curriculum by supporting the creation of a state-of-the art anatomical learning facility that will help train future generations of physicians."

The UMSOM's commitment to providing and maintaining an appropriate educational environment that is comfortable, technologically current, and conducive to learning is a leading priority for the Office of Medical Education. Donna L. Parker, MD, FACP, Professor of Medicine and Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, believes the anatomy lab renovations afforded by Dr. Reid's gift will benefit students for the entirety of their pre-clerkship studies. "With our Renaissance Curriculum, students no longer learn anatomy in one course at the beginning of first year," she said. "They now revisit anatomy subject matter the anatomy laboratory during different blocks over the entire pre-clerkship curriculum. This allows them to learn anatomy along with the physiology and pathophysiology of each organ system." 

The current laboratory, originally built in the 1970s, will receive various "infrastructure improvements along with new equipment, such as moveable and height-adjustable operating bed stations with smart monitors and surgical drop lighting," said Dr. Parker. "We are also looking to add innovative technology to the facility. This gift from Dr. Reid will make it possible to provide our students with a wonderful and updated environment in which to learn."

 Adam C. Puche, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair of the Dept of Anatomy & Neurobiology at the UMSOM, added: "As part of the Renaissance Curriculum, the teaching of anatomy was restructured with heightened clinical relevancy and tight integration into systems-based learning. During this process, we recognized the existing UMSOM gross anatomy laboratory infrastructure was inadequate to deliver modern teaching technologies to our students. The renovations possible with this gift will upgrade the UMSOM gross anatomy teaching laboratories to a state-of-the-art facility, providing our medical students a modern teaching environment for the study of anatomy."

Dr. Reid's record of philanthropic giving to UMSOM is highly notable. His most recent contributions include a donation of $500,000 given in 2019 to support The Maurice N. Reid, MD Collaborative Learning Space. In 2021, he committed to more than $300,000 to support a pilot cohort for Point of Care Ultrasound training for medical students, along with a more recent $100,000 pledge to support the Center for Advanced Research Training & Innovation (CARTI).

Dr. Reid earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1999, followed by a residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center. After completing his residency, he served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UMSOM and later worked as Clinical Director of the Emergency department at Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore, MD. In 2004, Dr. Reid left academia to pursue his desire to open an urgent care center in Harford County. In March of 2005, Dr. Reid founded ExpressCare Urgent Care Centers and opened its first location in Bel Air, MD. Since opening its doors, ExpressCare has grown to over 30 locations in three states and has formed a strategic partnership with LifeBridge Health, which now owns a minority share of ExpressCare.

Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 46 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs, and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1.3 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has nearly $600 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 students, trainees, residents, and fellows. The combined School of Medicine and Medical System ("University of Maryland Medicine") has an annual budget of over $6 billion and an economic impact of nearly $20 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity (according to the Association of American Medical Colleges profile) is an innovator in translational medicine, with 606 active patents and 52 start-up companies. In the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of the Best Medical Schools, published in 2021, the UM School of Medicine is ranked #9 among the 92 public medical schools in the U.S., and in the top 15 percent (#27) of all 192 public and private U.S. medical schools. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu

SOURCE The University of Maryland School of Medicine