For the first time in nearly two decades, the state’s only public medical school will have a new chancellor.
Dr. David McManus, chair of the Department of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health, will lead UMass Chan beginning this summer, the Worcester school announced Tuesday afternoon. He will replace the current chancellor, Dr. Michael Collins, who announced last year his plans to step down following a 19-year tenure.
McManus will take the helm of UMass Chan at a time when the school is navigating enormous financial pressures and a changing health care landscape. Massive federal research funding cuts rocked UMass Chan in 2025, causing the school to furlough 200 employees, rescind admissions offers to PhD candidates, and pause need-based financial aid for this academic year.
“Dr. McManus is the right leader to guide UMass Chan Medical School into the future,” said UMass president Marty Meehan in a statement. “His pioneering work in digital healthcare and AI, his deep experience in both the clinical and research fields, and his vision and collaborative nature, reflect the very best of UMass Chan.”
McManus, a clinical and research cardiologist, is the founding director of UMass Chan’s Program in Digital Medicine, which studies and develops health technology, including uses of artificial intelligence.
McManus will be the first UMass Chan alumnus to serve as the school’s chancellor. He graduated with his medical degree in 2002 and received a master’s degree in clinical investigation in 2012. He also earned an executive master’s in business administration from MIT’s Sloan School of Management last year.
“As a graduate and a faculty member, I am deeply honored by the opportunity to serve as a steward of this world-class medical school,” McManus said. “This institution has given me so much professionally and personally, and I will lean into this role with every fiber of my being to guide this institution through this moment of enormous change in medicine, education, and society.”
Collins, the longest serving chancellor in UMass history, announced his 2026 planned departure last June to allow time for the medical school to select a proper successor. Since 2007, Collins raised more than $865 million and grew the medical school’s endowment from $94 million to $640 million, as of fiscal year 2024.
Turmoil around federal funding did not influence his decision to leave, Collins said at the time.
The search for UMass Chan’s next chancellor was an extensive one that included more than 100 candidates. In addition to McManus, two other applicants were revealed as finalists for the position: Dr. Steven Goldstein, vice chancellor of health affairs for the University of California Irvine, and Dr. Frances Jensen, co-director of the Penn Translational Neuroscience Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
UMass Chan houses a number of graduate health programs, including the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing.
Marin Wolf can be reached at marin.wolf@globe.com.