The UMass Medical School community is mourning the loss of James Barry Hanshaw, MD, professor, dean emeritus and founding chair of the UMass Medical School Department of Pediatrics, who died Dec. 19, at age 90, in his home in Boylston.
Dr. Hanshaw served UMass Medical School in numerous capacities, including chair of pediatrics from 1975 to 1985, interim vice chancellor and academic dean from 1985 to 1986, interim chancellor in 1987, and dean and provost from 1986 to1989.
An internationally renowned physician-scientist in the field of pediatric virology, Hanshaw received his AB from Syracuse University and his MD from the State University of New York at Syracuse, which also granted him an honorary Doctor of Science degree. His postdoctoral training included a fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health under Nobel laureate Thomas H. Weller, MD. He was a member of the American Pediatric Society, New England Pediatric Society, Massachusetts Medical Society, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Club and the Worcester District Medical Society, which awarded him its Career Achievement Award in 2004. Hanshaw was also a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and was previously on the board of directors of the Children’s Medical Center at UMMS.
After he retired from medicine in 2010, Hanshaw pursued a second career in art. His paintings were exhibited in more than 17 shows and his work appeared in the Guild of Boston Artists Juried Regional Competition in 2009.
Read the full obituary here.