For immediate release: November 1, 2002
For more information, contact George Stamatis, 216-368-3635 or gxs18@po.cwru.edu

CLEVELAND—Five School of Medicine faculty members have been newly appointed to professorships by the CWRU Board of Trustees.

Two of the five have been named to inaugural professorships. Cystic fibrosis expert and researcher Pamela B. Davis has been appointed the first Arline H. and Curtis F. Garvin Research Professor, and Robert J. Ronis has been appointed the inaugural L. Douglas Lenkoski Associate Professor of Psychiatry.

In addition, Nathan A. Berger, director of the Center for Science, Health and Society, has been appointed the Hanna-Payne Professor of Experimental Medicine; Nancy L. Oleinick is now the Joseph T. Wearn, University Professor of Medicine; and Kurt C. Stange has been named the Gertrude Donnelly Hess Professor of Oncology Research.

Pamela B. Davis

Davis joined CWRU in 1981 and rose through the ranks to professor of pediatrics in 1989. She is chief of the pediatric pulmonary division at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital and directs the Willard Bernbaum Cystic Fibrosis Research Center at University Hospitals of Cleveland and CWRU. The center is devoted to clinical and basic research on cystic fibrosis (CF), an inherited disease that causes thick mucus to form in the breathing passages in the lungs, predisposing the person to chronic lung infections.

Pamela B. Davis

Her research activities are aimed at discovering new treatments for CF. Her laboratory focuses on activating mutant forms of the protein that is defective in CF, treating the lung inflammation that is a consequence of CF and developing a practical means of gene therapy for the disorder. She has maintained strong independent grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has been designated as one of the School of Medicine's Million Dollar Professors for bringing in more than $1 million annually in NIH research funds. She is a founding scientist of the biotech company Copernicus Therapeutics Inc.

For her research and funding success, she is being honored Nov. 14 by Northern Ohio Live magazine as one of 12 highly influential women in the Cleveland area.

Davis also is an active teacher in the School of Medicine, the pediatric residency program at Rainbow Babies and Children's and in graduate and postdoctoral research education. She is a member of many professional societies and has received the Maurice Saltzman Award from the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation and the Samuel Rosenthal Foundation Prize for Academic Pediatrics.

Davis received a bachelor's degree in chemistry, summa cum laude, from Smith College in 1968, and a doctorate in physiology and pharmacology in 1973 and an medical degree in 1974, both from Duke University.

Following internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University Hospital, Davis trained as a fellow in pulmonary diseases at the NIH from 1975 to 1977. She spent two years as a clinical associate and senior investigator at the pediatric metabolism branch of the NIH and then joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, where she served as an assistant professor prior to coming to CWRU.

The Garvin professorship was established by the CWRU Board of Trustees with funds from the estate of Arline H. Garvin, who was an alumna of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. She died in 2000. Curtis F. Garvin was an alumnus of Adelbert College and Western Reserve School of Medicine and was on faculty of the medical school between 1936 and 1972. He died in 1994.

Robert J. Ronis

In recognition of being named the L. Douglas Lenkoski Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Ronis will deliver an honorary lecture on at 4 p.m. January 27 in the Frohring Auditorium, with a reception following in the BRB Lobby.

Robert J. Ronis

Ronis' professorship was established to support teaching and research in the department of psychiatry at University Hospitals of Cleveland (UHC), in honor of Lenkoski, a 1953 alumnus of the CWRU School of Medicine. Lenkoski was a member of the faculty in psychiatry at CWRU from 1960 until his retirement at the rank of professor in 1992, when he was appointed professor emeritus of psychiatry. He is also a former chairman of the department of psychiatry at CWRU and UHC, and former chief of staff at UHC.

The board established the professorship on the basis of gifts received from the Elizabeth Ring Mather and William Gwinn Mather Fund, University Hospitals Health System, First Hospital Corporation Foundation and numerous other donors.

Ronis holds a medical degree from CWRU and a master's degree of public health from Ohio State University. He interned in internal medicine at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford and did a residency in psychiatry at UHC. After serving four years as the first full-time psychiatrist in Maretta, Ohio, he returned to CWRU and UHC as an assistant professor and established the Public Academic Liaison (PAL) Program, a collaboration between the Department of Psychiatry and the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board for clinical services and education.

He was a faculty fellow of a National Institutes of Health-sponsored faculty development program in alcoholism and other substance abuse from 1990 through 1995. He was promoted to associate professor at CWRU in 1996.

Ronis has demonstrated a commitment to psychiatric education and community psychiatry throughout his career. At UHC, he has served as vice chair of education, director of residency training and director of public psychiatry in the department of psychiatry. He served a year as interim chief clinical officer of the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board and has served on the medical advisory committee of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Metro Cleveland since 1994.

He has been active in the Cleveland Psychiatric Society as a member of its executive board since 1994 and as president from 1997 to 1998. His involvement in community mental health has brought special commendations from the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Metro Cleveland, the North East Ohio Health Services and the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board. He was recognized for distinguished service by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 1997 and received the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill's Exemplary Psychiatrist Award in 2002.

Ronis has served on several committees of the Ohio Psychiatric Association as well as its treasurer and program chair, 1998 through 2000; president-elect, 2000 to 2001; and president, 2001 to 2002. His teaching has earned him the department of psychiatry's clinical teaching award in 1994 and the appreciation award from the residents of the department of psychiatry in 1998 and 1999

Nathan A. Berger

Nathan A. Berger

Berger's professorship, the Hanna-Payne Professor of Experimental Medicine, was established in 1906 by a gift from H.M. Hanna and Oliver H. Payne. It has been held by a succession of notable physicians, each of whom made significant contributions to the excellence of the School of Medicine.

Berger, a professor of medicine in the division of oncology, has maintained an active research program throughout his career, studying DNA repair processes and the effects of DNA damage on cellular metabolism and cell death. He actively has been involved on editorial boards and in the major professional societies in his field. As a physician treating patients with cancer, he has been listed in the "Best Doctors in America." He is a member of the American Cancer Society Cancer Care Hall of Fame and a member of the Cleveland Medical Hall of Fame.

His seven-year term as dean of the CWRU School of Medicine was marked by the school's steady rise in funding from the National Institutes of Health, successful campaigns for capital improvements, an increase in the number of endowed professorships and this year's highly successful reaccreditation review by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the national board that accredits medical schools.

In July, Berger was appointed as the first director of the Center for Science, Health and Society, a new collaboration between CWRU and the City of Cleveland that aims to improve the health of city residents through community outreach, health education and health policy programs.

Berger earned his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia. After an internship in medicine at the Michael Reese Medical Center, Chicago, and a residency in medicine at Barnes Hospital, St. Louis, he became a research associate at the NIH. Following a fellowship in hematology at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, he joined the faculty there.

In 1983, Berger joined the faculty of CWRU and was named chief of the division of hematology/oncology at University Hospitals of Cleveland. Two years later, he was named the first director of the CWRU/UHC cancer center, a position he held until 1993.

Nancy L. Oleinick

Nancy L. Oleinick

The Board of Trustees established Oleinick's professorship, the Joseph T. Wearn University Professor of Medicine, in 1986 with gifts from friends and colleagues in memory of Wearn. He was the recipient of the first University Medal, given to him in 1973. During his active service on the faculty from 1929 to 1960, he held appointments as the John H. Hord Professor of Medicine and dean of the School of Medicine.

Oleinick holds a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Pittsburgh. She went on to postdoctoral training in the department of biochemistry at CWRU supported by a National Institutes of Health fellowship from 1967 through 1969. In 1968, she joined the CWRU faculty as an instructor in the biochemistry department, was promoted in 1969 to assistant professor in the departments of radiology and biochemistry and in 1976 was promoted to associate professor. In 1988, she was promoted to professor. She transferred to the department of radiation oncology when it was established 1997. Previously, radiation biology had been a division within the department of radiology.

She directs a program in photodynamic therapy for the treatment of cancer that has been funded since 1990 by the National Cancer Institute. The program has developed a new photosensitizing drug for this therapy, which uses drugs sensitive to laser light to fight tumors. Her research program has resulted in continuous funding and recognition as one of the School of Medicine's faculty members who annually garners more than $1 million in NIH funding.

Oleinick also directs the radiation biology program of the CWRU/UHC comprehensive cancer center and its radiation resources core facility. She has significant experience on several panels assessing research aimed at making radiation therapy safer. She served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, convened in 1994 by the president of the United States. She has grant review and editorial board responsibilities at the national and international levels, as well a strong record of service to CWRU.

Kurt C. Stange

Kurt C. Stange

Stange's professorship, the Gertrude Donnelly Hess, M.D. Professor of Oncology Research, was established in 1998 with a gift from Hess, who was a 1934 graduate of the CWRU School of Medicine.

Stange joined the CWRU School of Medicine in 1988. In 1995, he was named associate director for cancer prevention, control and population research at the comprehensive cancer center of CWRU and University Hospitals of Cleveland. In that position, he has been the principal architect of the center's cancer prevention research strategy.

He is also a family physician and epidemiologist with an active clinical practice. He is engaged in basic and applied research aiming to understand the core structures and processes of primary care practice, elucidate their effect on preventive service delivery and patient outcomes and discover new methods of enhancing the comprehensive and integrative generalist approach to patient care. His research is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Stange serves as president of the North American Primary Care Research Group and mentors a large cadre of junior cancer prevention and control researchers. He has been elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

He earned his medical degree from Albany Medical College, completed a residency in family medicine at Duke-Watts Medical Center and a fellowship in preventive medicine at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He holds a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health.

–CWRU–

 

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