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Two CWRU School of Medicine faculty have been appointed to inaugural
professorships by the University's Board of Trustees.
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.
Davis and Ronis' appointments were approved at the same trustees'
meeting during which three others from the School of Medicine
were newly appointed to professorships. Nathan A. Berger was named
the Hanna-Payne Professor of Experimental Medicine, Nancy L. Oleinick
was appointed the Joseph T. Wearn University Professor of Medicine
and Kurt C. Stange was 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
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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
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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
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