The Reporter: June 1995, Vol.6, No.3
The 1990s: With Five Years Remaining, Already A Banner Decade For Endowed Professorships

At a time when federal sources of monies for academic medical centers are decreasing and becoming less reliable, there's some good funding news for P&S: The 1990s is poised to be a record-setting decade for the number of full professorships funded by private gifts.

In the first 223 years of P&S, 43 professorships were created and funded. In the first half of the 1990s, 16 have been established and efforts toward funding others are under way.

Endowing professorships is just one strategy private universities use to secure more stable funding, says Anke Nolting, associate dean and executive director for alumni relations and development. At least $1.5 million in private funding is required to establish a named professorship at P&S. The interest on funds donated can supplement salaries and also provide funding for research projects.

Most of the named professorships that have been created since 1990 are listed below. The Harold Ames Hatch Professorship in Cardiology, established December 1990, benefits the director of the division of cardiology in the Department of Medicine. Currently held by Dr. Paul Cannon, the professorship honors the memory of Mr. Hatch, who was vice president, treasurer, and director of Deering Milliken and Dutchess Bleachery and president of Milline Advertisement. The professorship is supported by the Cobble Pond Foundation and the Margaret Milliken Hatch Charitable Trust.

Dr. Cannon received his B.A. degree from Holy Cross in 1954 and his M.D. degree from Harvard in 1958.

In 1993, Hatch Trust representatives pledged funds to establish the Margaret Milliken Hatch Professorship in Medicine. This professorship is held by Dr. Allan Schwartz, clinical professor of medicine and director of the Interventional Cardiology Center. Dr. Schwartz, a graduate of the College of the City of New York, received his M.S. degree from Harvard in 1968 and his M.D. degree from Columbia in 1974.

The Hatch Trust also supports the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Professorship for the vice president for health sciences and the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, established in February 1995.
Dr. Herbert Pardes serves in the joint capacity as vice president and dean. If the vice president and dean positions are not held in a joint capacity at some future time, the professorship will benefit the vice president for health sciences. The dean of the Faculty of Medicine will hold the professorship in the event the two positions are severed and the vice president position is vacant or eliminated.

The James A. Wolff Professorship in Pediatrics, established in 1990 and currenty held by Dr. Sergio Piomelli, honors the co-author of the first study demonstrating that leukemia could be treated by chemotherapy-a milestone in cancer treatment. Dr. Wolff, who joined the faculty in 1948 and has been special lecturer in pediatrics since 1982, established at Babies and Children's Hospital one of the country's first divisions of hematology in pediatrics.

Dr. Piomelli earned his B.A. degree from Liceum J. Sannazzaro (Italy) in 1948 and his M.D. degree from the University of Naples in 1954.

In March 1990, the Columbia Trustees signed an agreement with Miss Ursula Corning, who donated funds to establish the H.K. Corning Professorship of Rehabilitation Medicine Research in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at P&S. Dr. H.K. Corning, a prominent medical anatomist in Europe, was the father of Miss Corning, a longtime physical therapist at CPMC and generous supporter of P&S. The intent of the professorship, held by Dr. James S. Lieberman, is to enable the department to appoint a distinguished physician and scientist in the field of rehabilitation medicine.

Dr. Lieberman earned his B.S. degree in 1960 and his M.D. degree in 1963, both from the University of California at San Francisco.

In 1991, two new professorships were established: the Edgar Leifer Professorship in Medicine and the Lucy G. Moses Professorship of Neurology.

The Leifer professorship, currently vacant, honors a physician-chemist who has devoted more than 40 years to work at CPMC. Dr. Leifer is known as a caring advocate for his patients and an outstanding scientific investigator. He received Ph.D. and M.D. degrees from P&S, where he has been on the faculty since 1951 and is now professor of clinical medicine.

The Lucy G. Moses Professorship of Neurology was initiated by a donation from the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund. The goal of the professorship, held by Dr. Salvatore DiMauro, is to promote research aimed at finding causes and treatment of neurological diseases. This goal was often expressed by Mrs. Moses, a former patient at CPMC.

Dr. DiMauro, the world's leading investigator of metabolic muscle diseases, is one of the founders of the new field of mitochondrial diseases.

The Percy and Joanne Uris Professorship, held by Dr. Riccardo Dalla-Favera, was established in 1992 from the will of the late Joanne Uris.

Dr. Dalla-Favera is known internationally for his studies on elucidating at the molecular level the chromosomal abnormalities and oncogene changes that underlie the basis for several forms of human leukemia and lymphomas.

In 1993, the Trustees approved the establishment of the Henrik H. Bendixen Professorship of Anesthesiology. The professorship, currently vacant, honors Dr. Bendixen as an academician, clinician, teacher, author, and administrator.

Dr. Bendixen, professor emeritus of anesthesiology and former chairman of anesthesiology, was vice president for health sciences and dean of the Faculty of Medicine from September 1984 through February 1989. He also served as senior associate vice president for health sciences and senior associate dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

The Trustees also approved The John H. Livingston Professor of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery in 1993. The professorship, currently vacant, is funded by the New York-based St. Giles Foundation, which has a special interest in children's orthopedics and gives grants for hospitals and organizations to help the handicapped.

Mr. Livingston, who died in January 1995, was vice president of the foundation. He graduated from Williams College with a B.A. degree in 1925 and from Columbia Law School in 1929. The foundation asked to have this chair named after Mr. Livingston to honor his many years supporting children through St. Giles.

In 1994, the Trustees approved the establishment of the Harold C. Neu Professorship in Infectious Disease. The professorship, currently vacant, honors Dr. Neu, who was chief of the division of infectious diseases in the Department of Medicine and epidemiologist at Presbyterian Hospital from 1970 until he began his battle with glioblastoma in 1994.

A graduate of Creighton University, Dr. Neu received his M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins in 1960. Dr. Neu was involved in the development of 50 major anti-infectives. He pioneered the use of third generation cephalosporins and new penicillins in patients with cystic fibrosis. His in vitro susceptibility studies, innumerable clinical trials, and pharmacokinetic studies formed the basis for the use of the major anti-pseudomonas antibiotics.

The J. Lawrence Pool Professorship of Neurological Surgery was approved in 1994. The professorship, currently vacant, honors Dr. Pool, who served as professor and chairman of neurological surgery from 1949 to 1972.

A graduate of St. Paul's School and Harvard, Dr. Pool received his M.D. degree in 1932 and a doctorate in medical science in 1940, both from P&S. He served his country as a brain surgeon on the front lines during World War II throughout the North African, Italian, French, and German campaigns. He shared his talents and energy as a visiting, consulting, or honorary attending at 10 hospitals located in the city, in New Jersey, and in Connecticut.

Also last year, Dr. Ruth Guttmann, professor emeritus of radiology, honored her late husband by establishing the Thomas S. Zimmer Professorship of Reconstructive Surgery for a leader in the field of reconstructive surgery. Dr. Guttmann requests that the professorship, currently vacant, be held by a surgeon with a primary interest and expertise in post-traumatic injury and reconstruction of congenital anomalies.

Dr. Zimmer was a pioneer in reconstructive surgery and is credited with the first successful reattachment of a severed arm, known among his colleagues as "Zimmer arm." He was a highly regarded surgeon who practiced in Berlin before leaving for the United States in 1935. He was a general surgeon in New York City until retiring in 1965.

In March 1995, the Trustees approved the establishment of the Howard W. Smith Professorship of Otolaryngology, which is held by the chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery. The professorship, held by Dr. Lanny Garth Close, is supported by an anonymous donor. It honors Dr. Howard Smith, P&S clinical professor of otolaryngology.

Dr. Smith graduated from Tufts University School of Dentistry in 1945 and from Yale University School of Medicine in 1953. Among his many honors and achievements, Dr. Smith founded the New Haven Ear, Nose and Throat and Maxillo-Facial Surgery Group, The New Haven Hearing and Speech Center, and the New Haven Cleft Palate Center.

Dr. Close joined the P&S faculty in August 1994 from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he was professor and vice chairman of otorhinolaryngology and chairman of head and neck surgery.

This month the Trustees approved another endowed professorship, The William and Joy Ruane Professor of Pediatric Psychopharmacology. This professorship, currently vacant, will support training and research into the effectiveness of psychopharmacological agents in treating childhood psychiatric disorders.

The Ruanes, who fund the professorship, have a longstanding relationship with Dr. David Shaffer, Irving Professor of Child Psychiatry and professor of pediatrics at P&S. Mr. Ruane is chief investment officer at Ruane, Cunniff & Co., an active equity manager.