Brain health researcher Charles Hillman installed as inaugural Manganaro Distinguished Professor
Charles Hillman, director of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Health, studies lifestyle behaviors on brain and cognition to maximize health and well-being, and to promote effective functioning.
Northeastern University has long been a part of Charles Hillman’s life — even before he was recruited as a star professor and researcher.
Hillman grew up in Mission Hill, traversed campus to work in his father’s lab at the Forsyth Institute, played basketball in Cabot Gym and, for a period of time, had the university’s rugby team living next door.
“I should say I was in high school and learned a lot,” Hillman deadpanned.
This week Hillman received one of the university’s highest faculty honors, officially installed as the inaugural Michele and Anthony Manganaro Distinguished Professor.
“For me to receive this honor at Northeastern, named for two visionary university advocates and supporters, is truly a great moment in my career,” Hillman said Thursday evening during a ceremony at the EXP research complex on Northeastern’s Boston campus. “I’m honored to receive your support.”
Hillman holds appointments in the department of psychology in the College of Science and the department of physical therapy, movement and rehabilitation sciences in the Bouve College of Health Sciences.
He is also director of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Health, which studies lifestyle choices and behaviors on brain and cognition in order to maximize health and well-being and to promote the effective functioning of individuals throughout their lives.
“Faculty like Professor Hillman are conducting research that advances knowledge and shapes the world and how we solve problems,” said Todd Manganaro, son of Michele and the late Anthony Manganaro. Todd Manganaro is also a Northeastern graduate and a member of the university’s Board of Trustees.
“I’m so happy having met with professor Hillman that he’s the perfect person to receive this,” Todd Manganaro continued. “I’m inspired by him, and hope that and wish him the best of success moving forward.”
President Joseph E. Aoun congratulated Hillman and welcomed members of the Manganaro family to the event, thanking them for their generosity.
Aoun recalled two poignant memories of Anthony Manganaro, a first-generation Northeastern graduate who served on the university’s Board of Trustees.
“He said, ‘I will be alive as long as people remember me; the day I am not remembered, I will disappear,’” Aoun recalled.
He then addressed the family.
“What you have done here with your generous gift is to make sure that Michele and Anthony will always be alive and will always be remembered in this place,” Aoun said.
Aoun also recalled a speech Anthony Manganaro gave upon receiving the university’s highest honor, the Presidential Medallion. Aoun related how Anthony Manganaro said that the most valuable and important things in your life were those memories or items you could fit in a cigar box.
Then the president brought out a cigar box that Anthony Manganaro had given him as a gift and read the enclosed message.
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“Whether you are 17 or 85, whether you are rich or poor, famous or infamous, what counts most in life is a memory or an item that will fit into a cigar box,” Aoun read. “Not your yacht, not your big house or your fancy luxury car. They are just temporary possessions, but your cigar box moments are permanently yours.”
Aoun handed the box to Todd Manganaro.
“I hope this will remain on your desk,” Aoun said.
Then he added humor.
“Whenever we have a Zoom meeting, I would like to see it,” Aoun said.
Beth A. Winkelstein, Northeastern provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, said that the ceremony celebrated two “remarkable achievements” — the creation of the Michele and Anthony Manganaro Distinguished Professorship, and the appointment of Hillman as its inaugural recipient.
“The Manganaro family’s generosity will propel groundbreaking scientific discoveries in critical areas such as neurodegenerative diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and other brain disorders, and the impact of this work will reach far beyond our campus, improving lives throughout our global community,” Winkelstein said. “In Professor Charles Hillman, we have the ideal inaugural holder of this distinguished position.”
