Honors and Achievements

The State of Connecticut formally proclaimed April 15 as Petra Clark-Dufner Day, in recognition of her distinguished career of sustained leadership in education, health equity, and workforce development. Clark-Dufner is the director of the Connecticut Area Health Education Center (CT AHEC), based at UConn Health, and is an assistant professor in the UConn School of Medicine. Issued by Gov. Ned Lamont, the proclamation honors her more than three decades of service in strengthening Connecticut’s health professions pipeline and expanding access to health care services in under resourced communities.  Her work has been instrumental in establishing UConn Health as a statewide anchor for workforce policy and innovation. Clark-Dufner was a driving force in the Community Health Worker Practice Act, the Rural Health Transformation Plan, and the AHEC Act in Connecticut.

Dr. Jane M. Grant-Kels of UConn Health has been announced by The American Academy of Dermatology as its next president-elect. Grant-Kels will be installed as AAD president-elect in March 2027 and will then hold the office of president of the AAD for one year beginning in March 2028. The AAD is the largest U.S. professional dermatology organization with more than 90% of board-certified dermatologists being members.

In Memoriam

Francis Ahking, 74, of East Hartford, Conn., a retired associate professor of economics, on March 18.

Barbara Clark, 97, of Bloomfield, Conn., a retired social worker from UConn Health, on March 26.

Fredrick Chowanec, 91, of Columbia, Conn., a retired UConn firefighter, on March 29.

Jeffrey Diaz, a former employee in dining services and later landscaping,  on March 31.

Gary Donati, 68, of Newington, Conn., a retired electrician at UConn Health,  on March 29.

Dr. John Ramsey Raye, of Chatham, Mass., a retired professor of pediatrics at UConn Health who later became chairman of the Department of Pediatrics, on April 3.