printable versionFour medical school faculty members appointed to endowed professorships
BY MARGARITA GALLARDO
Michael Clarke
Beverly Mitchell
Norman W. Rizk
Linda D. Shortliffe
Michael Clarke, MD, professor of medicine (oncology), has been appointed the Karel H. and Avice N. Beekhuis Professorship in Cancer Biology. He is also the associate director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, Clarke was professor of internal medicine and of cell and developmental biology at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, where he was the first to isolate cancer stem cells from a solid tumor.
Clarke's success in identifying breast cancer stem cells could explain failures in current breast cancer treatments and lead to more effective therapies for the disease as well as numerous other types of malignancies such as ovarian, colon, lung and head and neck cancers.
The professorship in cancer biology was established by former ARAMCO president Karel Beekhuis and his wife Avice, who both developed cancer in 1985. They designated Stanford as beneficiary to establish the Karel H. Beekhuis and Avice N. Beekhuis Memorial Cancer Research Fund, and in 1987, a portion was used to endow this professorship. The chair was previously held by Irving Weissman, MD, who is now the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research.
Beverly Mitchell, MD, professor of medicine, has been named the George E. Becker Professor of Medicine. She is also deputy director of Stanford's Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research interests focus on the study of cellular pathways that leukemia cells use to override signals that would ordinarily tell the cell to stop dividing or to die.
Mitchell joined the faculty from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she was associate director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Before moving to UNC in 1991, she was a faculty member in the departments of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Michigan for 16 years. She has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed articles. She is chair of the medical and scientific affairs committee of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.
The George E. Becker Professorship was established in 2001 with assets from the George E. and Lucy Becker Professorship in medicine, which was created in 1978 with a gift from medical school alumnus George H. Becker, MD, and his wife Miriam, now both deceased, to honor his parents. This newly created professorship honors his father, George E. Becker.
Norman W. Rizk, MD, professor of medicine and senior associate dean for clinical affairs, has been appointed to the Berthold and Belle N. Guggenhime Professorship in Medicine. Rizk is also interim co-chair of the Department of Medicine, program director of the fellowship in critical care medicine and medical director of the intensive care units.
Rizk has served on the clinical faculty since 1983 while practicing as a staff physician with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. In 1991 he became an associate professor. He is interested in the prevention and control of critical care-related illnesses and complications, including ventilator-associated pneumonia, spread of nosocomial infections and prognosis of multiple organ system failure in intensive care units.
The Guggenhime Professorship was established in 1957 with a bequest from Berthold and Belle N. Guggenhime, longtime friends and supporters of Stanford. The remainder of Belle's bequest was added to funds in Berthold's will and were designated for construction of medical and surgical facilities at the medical center.
Linda D. Shortliffe, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Urology and chief of pediatric urology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, has been named the Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor.
Shortliffe joined the faculty in 1981 and served as chief of urology at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. She was a staff pediatric urologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 1985-86. She is currently president of the American Board of Urology, for which she has previously served as a trustee. She also has served as president of the Society for University Urologists in 2004-05. She is a featured physician in an exhibition at the National Library of Medicine, titled Changing the face of medicine. She is also a member of the residency review committee for urology of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
Shortliffe's research interests focus on the pathophysiology of urinary tract hydronephrosis, effect of hormones on the urinary tract and imaging of the dilated urinary tract. She has had nationally funded research in the areas of prostatitis, urinary tract infections, hormonal effects on the urinary tract, and pediatric urinary tract imaging and physiology. She also chaired the bladder research program review group for the NIH and NIDDK that culminated in the NIH publication Overcoming bladder disease: A strategic plan for research.
The professorship is being established with assets from the Stanley McCormick Fund, which was created with a bequest in 1969 from the late Katharine McCormick, to honor her husband Stanley. This new professorship was established with a preference for women in teaching and medical research.