Three Faculty Members Honored with Newly Established Professorships

The University of Michigan Medical School recently inaugurated three endowed professorships and installed the first holders of each in ceremonies in Ann Arbor.

The Frederick G.L. Huetwell and William D. Robinson, M.D., Professorship in Rheumatology

On October 28, 2004, Alisa Erika Koch, M.D., was installed as the first Frederick G.L. Huetwell and William D. Robinson, M.D., Professor of Rheumatology.

Marc Lippman, M.D., chair of the Department of Internal Medicine; Peter Polverini, Dean of the U-M Dental School; Allen Lichter; Alisa Koch; Giles Bole (M.D. 1953, Residency 1956), former dean of the U-M Medical School; David Fox, M.D., chief of Rheumatology; attorney Jon Gandelot; Robert Kelch Photo: Martin Vloet

Koch received her medical degree from Northwestern University in 1980. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Loyola University and a fellowship at Northwestern. She was appointed assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern in 1986 and achieved the rank of professor in 1995. Since 1997, she had been the Gallagher Professor of Arthritis Research at Northwestern and has served as chief of the Section of Rheumatology at the Veterans Affairs Chicago Health Care System since 1991.

Koch is widely recognized as a leader in the field of rheumatology. She has defined cytokine and chemokine pathways in inflammatory synovitis. She has established a key role for macrophages and their secretory products to the development of rheumatoid arthritis and the angiogenesis that contributes to this disease. Her bibliography reflects more than 130 peer-reviewed articles, one book and 21 book chapters.

The Frederick G.L. Huetwell and William D. Robinson, M.D., Professorship in Rheumatology honors two men who made extraordinary contributions to the growth of the University of Michigan Medical School.

Huetwell was a great friend to the U-M and to the Medical School, and one of the University’s leading benefactors. Despite physical difficulties related to cerebral palsy, Huetwell earned a degree in history from the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts in 1938, and went on to become an active and devoted alumnus. Huetwell died in 1994. A year later, his bequest of nearly $17 million came to the University, with more than $9 million dedicated to the establishment of endowments in the Medical School.

William D. Robinson was responsible for the creation of the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Internal Medicine. He practiced medicine, trained medical students, and expanded the horizons of biomedical knowledge in a career that spanned 54 years. When Robinson died in 1988, his department colleagues joined forces to contribute a gift in his name.

The Ravitz Foundation Professorship in Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases

Robert Kelch and Valerie Castle Photo: Martin Vloet

On November 19, 2004, the U-M Medical School inaugurated the Ravitz Foundation Professorship in Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases. Valerie Castle, M.D., a professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan, was installed as the first Ravitz Foundation Professor.

A native of Toronto, Canada, Castle received her bachelor’s degree from McGill University in Montreal and her medical degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She completed a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at the University of Michigan in 1990 and joined the U-M faculty the same year.

Castle’s primary research focus is neuroblastoma, a pediatric solid tumor. She is specifically interested in mechanisms of chemotherapy and radiation resistance and studies the control of neuroblastoma invasion and metastases. Her laboratory is funded by the National Cancer Institute and several foundation grants. Her research interests in neuroblastoma are complemented by her clinical expertise; Castle is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost specialists in the treatment of this devastating disease. She holds leadership positions in a number of professional organizations, including the Society for Pediatric Research, the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, the American Pediatric Society and the American Association for Cancer Research.

Edward Ravitz was born in Detroit in 1918 and grew up in the midst of the Great Depression. Although he was a brilliant young man, the economic devastation of the times precluded education beyond Central High School, so he worked with his father, a carpenter. He entered the army in World War II and was soon in officer candidate school, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant. Upon graduation, he was assigned to combat in the Pacific where his leadership and courage earned him the Bronze Star Medal for Valor and promotion to captain.

In 1963, Ravitz was hired by Edward Rose and Sons, a large building company, and sent to establish their Kalamazoo office which, through his leadership, grew to more than 600 employees, who built more than 15,000 single-family homes and apartment units in Michigan and more than 12,000 in other states.

Ravitz became interested in high-risk medical research, children and child development. Not long before his death in 1999, he established the Edward Ravitz Foundation. The foundation’s gift of a professorship for the chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the University of Michigan follows on earlier gifts to support construction of the new children’s hospital and research on neuroblastoma.

The Harold W. and Helen L. Gehring Professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery

Steve Goldstein, Ph.D., Henry Ruppenthal Family Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering; Larry S. Matthews, M.D., professor emeritus and former section head of Orthopaedic Surgery; Jim Carpenter; Robert Hensinger (M.D. 1964) professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Photo: Martin Vloet

December 8, 2004 marked the inauguration of the Harold W. and Helen L. Gehring Professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery. James E. Carpenter (M.D. 1984), chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, was named as the first Gehring Professor.

A third-generation graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, Carpenter received his training in orthopaedic surgery at Harvard, where he held a research fellowship in orthopaedic biomechanics, and at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has been a member of the Section of Orthopaedics and an integral part of the U-M Sports Medicine Program since 1990. Carpenter is active in research, has presented at scientific meetings nationally and internationally, and is the author of numerous scientific articles and book chapters. His areas of interest and expertise are in shoulder, knee and arthroscopic surgery as well as sports medicine. As a team physician for athletes, Carpenter provides orthopaedic care for the Michigan Wolverines.

Since 1993, Carpenter has also taught in the U-M Biomedical Engineering Program. He was named chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in 2003.

Helping others and giving back to the community were principals that guided Harold W. Gehring (M.D. 1936, Residency 1941) and his wife, Helen, throughout their lives. During World War II, when medical services as well many other American endeavors were limited by heavy conscription to military service overseas, the Gehrings provided free medical care to Native Americans in Lapeer County as their own form of service to an American society under siege. Harold Gehring specialized in orthopaedics; Helen Gehring had earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in bacteriology from the U-M in 1935 and 1938, respectively, and also held a research fellowship from 1935 to 1941. Subsequently, Harold Gehring practiced at Beaumont and Grace hospitals in Detroit.

Harold Gehring died in 1984. Helen Gehring later established the Harold W. and Helen L. Gehring Professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery to help train future physicians at the institution that had provided both of them with so many opportunities and the ability to make a difference in the world.

—WH