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Sanderson To Receive Nettleship Endowed Chair at UAMS
The Nettleship Endowed Chair inaugural recipient, Ralph Sanderson, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology in the College of Medicine, is also the Director of Basic Research at the ACRC. He received his doctorate in cell biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1986, and sought postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. Dr. Sanderson is internationally known for his work on the role of heparan sulfate proteoglycans in regulating the growth and metastasis of tumor cells. Since joining the UAMS faculty in 1989, his research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Arthritis Foundation. According to James Y. Suen, M.D., Director of the ACRC, "Dr. Sanderson's reputation as an outstanding teacher, mentor and administrator has established him as a vital leader on the UAMS campus. Dr. Sanderson is named to this chair in recognition of his accomplishments and his unwavering commitment to scholarship and academic excellence." “The tradition of establishing endowed chairs at universities is the highest academic honor that can be bestowed upon distinguished faculty,” said E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., Dean of the College of Medicine. “Those named to a chair are among the most highly regarded scientists, physicians, and professors in their respective fields." Dr. Reece said there are now 33 endowed chairs and professorships at the college. This endowed chair is the result of generous gifts from two pathologists - Drs. Anderson and Mae Nettleship - and continues their tradition of service to the people of Arkansas. Dr. Anderson Nettleship made outstanding contributions to basic cancer research at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. His work laid the foundation for more recent studies of oncogenes. He served as Chair of the Department of Pathology at UAMS from 1947 to 1954. During his tenure, he organized the Medical Illustration Department, began the pathology residency program and served as the first State Medical Examiner. In 1956, he returned to Fayetteville, his birthplace, where he and Dr. Mae Nettleship organized the Antaeus Lineal Medical Research Laboratories, which gave pre-medical fellowships to more than 200 students, several of who became prominent UAMS faculty members. After Anderson’s death in 1981, Mae continued her practice and made significant contributions to civic and educational programs in Arkansas. The tradition of endowed chairs and endowed professorships in higher education is steeped in history. The first named chair was established in England in 1502, when Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of the Earl of Richmond (by then Henry VII) donated the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity to Cambridge. Today, almost five centuries later, her gift still supports a continuous line of distinguished scholars - the Margaret Professors. English settlers introduced the practice to America. The first endowed chair in America was established at Harvard University fifty years before the American Revolution. That institution now has over 200 chairs. A single gift or a group of designated gifts totaling $1 million or more creates an endowed chair at UAMS. The full amount of the gift is invested, and only the earned income is used for innovative academic, research, or clinical initiatives directed by the chair holder. The custom-designed medallion presented to the chair holder at the investiture ceremony is the tangible symbol of the endowment. The tradition of the medallion also goes back to the renaissance universities of Europe, and it signifies the partnership of the benefactor with the university. The donor’s gift and philanthropic spirit enables UAMS to make continuing, significant contributions to medical science. # # # For high res image, click on above photo of Sanderson. PR
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Contact: 03/30/07 |
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