University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced June 29 that the school will receive $1 million in philanthropic support from one of its most distinguished Board of Visitors members and alumni, Maurice N. Reid, MD ’99, CEO and medical director of ExpressCare Urgent Care Centers.

(From left) Maurice N. Reid, MD ’99; Donna Parker, MD, FACP; and Adam C. Puche, PhD

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

Reid noted that modernized teaching spaces and new technology are essential for the implementation of innovative learning methods.

“As a physician and graduate of the school, I recognize the importance of being on the front lines of medicine and medical education,” Reid said. “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.”

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, thinks the anatomy lab renovations afforded by 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 the first year,” she said. “They now revisit the anatomy lab during different blocks over the entire pre-clerkship curriculum, so that they learn anatomy along with the physiology and pathophysiology of each organ system.”

The current lab space, 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,” Parker said. “We are also looking to add innovative technology to the space. 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 Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at UMSOM, added: “As part of the Renaissance Curriculum, the teaching of anatomy was restructured with heightened clinical relevancy focus 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.”

Reid’s record of philanthropic giving to UMSOM is highly notable. In 2019, he donated $500,000 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, and he added a more recent $100,000 pledge to support the Center for Advanced Research Training & Innovation.

Reid earned his medical degree from UMSOM 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 and later worked as clinical director of the Emergency Department at Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore. In 2004, Reid left academia to pursue his desire to open an urgent care center in Harford County. In March 2005, Reid founded ExpressCare Urgent Care Centers and opened its first location in Bel Air, Md. Since opening its doors, ExpressCare has grown to more than 30 locations in three states and has formed a strategic partnership with LifeBridge Health, which now owns a minority share of ExpressCare.