Life Legacy
One couple’s gift will create the first endowed chair in public health sciences
By Stacey Bomser
Photography by Sonya Revell
Daniel Feaster, Ph.D.
M
otivated by the current public health crisis and their decades working to fight HIV, Daniel Feaster, Ph.D., and his late husband, Michael Uselmann, chose to honor their life’s passion by making a most personal gift.
Each has played a vital role at the Miller School, Feaster as a professor and Uselmann as a senior research associate. So, when it came time to plan their estate, the couple recently decided to make a planned gift, establishing the Daniel J. Feaster and Michael S. Uselmann Endowed Chair in Public Health Sciences, the first ever for the Department of Public Health Sciences, as well as an endowed research fund and an endowed fellowship fund.
“We were both strongly committed to leaving a legacy that could accomplish something meaningful,” said Dr. Feaster, who works in the Division of Biostatistics and is co-director of UM’s Center for HIV and Research in Mental Health (CHARM). “The University of Miami provided a platform and venue for us to do some very important work, particularly with individuals living with HIV, and our wish was always that these endowments would provide the resources to allow others to continue advancing public health.”
“An investment of this magnitude from a professor who has dedicated so much of his career to the field is like a stamp of approval,” said David Lee, Ph.D., chair of the department. “It reflects Dan’s deep belief in the importance of this work, his confidence in the institution, and his desire to elevate public health research, education and community engagement at the Miller School of Medicine for generations to come.” 
