NEW FOUNDATION PRESIDENT NAMED

Michael L. Bassoff became president of the Foundation of UMDNJ on June 1. As the former executive director of development at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson, he directed an organization of volunteers who solicited many of the school’s largest gifts.

Bassoff, who is a former resident of New Jersey and a graduate of the University of Arizona, began his fund-raising career as director of special events for that university’s Foundation. He later became founding director of development for the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center.

“Mr. Bassoff was selected from a national field of candidates because we recognized his ability to bring the Foundation to a new tier of fund-raising success,” says Roger S. Fine, Esq., chair of the Board of Trustees for the Foundation of UMDNJ.

Fine, who is vice president and general counsel at Johnson & Johnson and a University trustee, noted that under Bassoff’s leadership, the Foundation board is confident that they can help meet the challenge to increase research funding and enhance UMDNJ's reputation as a leader in academic medicine and research.

Bassoff’s professional affiliations include serving on the Development Advisory Board of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. He also is a member of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and the National Society of Fund Raising Executives. He has written two books: Symbiosis System and Relationshift: Revolutionary Fund Raising. He and his wife Alison have four children: Ryan, Lauren, Nicole and Will.