PHILADELPHIA—Four faculty members in the department of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been recognized with endowed professorships that honor the legacies of clinical, research, and medical-education contributions of previous members and supporters of the department.
“The department has an illustrious history, built on innovative research and clinical practice, and exceptional medical education,” said Ronald P. DeMatteo, MD, FACS, chair of the Department of Surgery. “The four recipients of these endowed professorships are emblematic not only of this heritage, but of the broad range of excellence of our current members, and the groundbreaking path on which the Department will continue.”
Julian Johnson Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Michael A. Acker, MD, chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery and director of the Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center, focuses on the surgical treatment of patients with end-stage heart failure, coronary artery disease, and valve disease. He has special interest and expertise in mitral valve repair for advanced myxomatous disease—weakening of connective cardiac tissue. He is a national leader in the use of mechanical assistance devices as a lead-up to transplantation or as permanent therapy for end-stage heart failure, and his research team investigates biologic and mechanical ventricular assistance. Acker is also the former William Maul Measey Professor of Surgery.
The Julian Johnson Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery was established in 1992 to honor the memory and legacy of outstanding clinical and teaching contributions of Julian Johnson, MD (1906-1987). As one of the early physicians in Penn’s cardiothoracic surgery program, he trained many of the nation’s most distinguished practitioners in the field.
Emile and Roland T. deHellebranth Associate Professor of Surgery
Najjia N. Mahmoud, MD, chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery and a professor of Surgery, has a special interest in the treatment of advanced rectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and complicated diverticulitis. She has a special interest in outcomes of colorectal cancer surgery, and has established programs to prevent wound infection as well as to enhance the recovery of colon surgery patients. Dr. Mahmoud is a member of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.
The Emile and Roland T. deHellebranth Associate Professor of Surgery was established in 1979 through a gift from Emile deHellebranth in honor of her late husband, Roland T. deHellebranth MD, a surgeon in private practice associated for many years with the Graduate Hospital of Philadelphia.
William Maul Measey Associate Professor in Surgical Research
Sunil Singhal, MD, director of the Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratory and co-director of the Center of Precision Surgery, practices surgery on all aspects of the chest, with a focus on lung cancer and esophageal cancer, including complex tumor resections and advanced disease. He performs minimally invasive pulmonary surgery, both video-assisted and robotic, mediastinal surgery (diseases of the thymus gland), and surgery for pectus excavatum—sunken or funnel chest, a congenital chest wall deformity. His primary research is on intraoperative imaging to detect small quantities of disease and immunotherapy to treat patients with advanced lung and thymic cancer. He has pioneered the use of injectable dye which accumulates in cancerous tissues more so than normal tissues to help identity and remove the diseased tissue.
The William Maul Measey Associate Professor in Surgical Research was established in 1999 through gifts from the Benjamin and Mary Siddons Measey Foundation and Penn’s Department of Surgery in honor of William Maul Measey (1875-1967), an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Measey, a distinguished corporate attorney in Philadelphia, created the Benjamin and Mary Siddons Measey Foundation to honor the memory of his parents. The foundation supports several colleges, universities, schools of medicine, and hospitals in the Philadelphia area.
Rhoads-Harrington Professorship of Surgery
Noel N. Williams, MB, BCh, MCh, FRCSI, FRCS, a clinical professor in the department of Surgery and director of Bariatric Surgery for Penn Medicine, is the Delaware Valley’s leading bariatric and one of the country’s preeminent robotic bariatric surgeons. Williams is one of the lead surgeons in the minimally invasive esophageal surgery program at Penn Medicine and director of the American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institute at Penn Simulation. He is also involved in surgical residency training as associate director for Penn’s General Surgery Residency Program. In addition to his surgical expertise, Williams’ research interests include quality in bariatric surgery and surgical education.
The Rhoads-Harrington Professorship of Surgery was created by gifts from Dolores Harrington and the Mark H. and Blanche M. Harrington Foundation in 2010. It honors the legacy of Jonathon E. Rhoads, MD (1908-2002), a pioneering surgeon at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania who chaired the Department of Surgery from 1959-1972. Rhoads’ advances included early investigation into the use of antibiotics and factors regulating the level of plasma prothrombin—a protein that helps blood to clot—as well as the development of total parenteral nutrition, a form of intravenous feeding.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.