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

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, M.D., University Professor of Medicine; and Kurt C. Stange has been named the Gertrude Donnelly Hess Professor of Oncology Research.

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.

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.

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.