SALT LAKE CITY - Four more outstanding researchers have been named to hold prestigious H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chairs in the University of Utah School of Medicine. The new chair holders are Jerry Kaplan, Ph.D., assistant vice president for basic science, associate dean for research, and professor of pathology; Wesley I. Sundquist, Ph.D. professor of biochemistry; J. Michael Dean, M.D., MBA, professor of pediatrics; and Gerald G. Krueger, M.D., professor of dermatology.
These appointments recognize extraordinary effort and achievement on the part of the chair holder, said University President Michael K. Young, who named the four recipients. Seven of 12 eventual Benning chair holders have now been named.
The Benning chairs were established in August 2005 by a $22.5 million bequest from the late Arthur E. Benning, former president and chairman of the board of Amalgamated Sugar, and are named after his parents. Benning had been greatly impressed by the work of University of Utah doctors in saving the life of a co-worker's daughter. That co-worker, Allan M. Lipman, went on to become president and chief executive officer of Amalgamated. Annual proceeds from the money will fund the work of 12 chair holders who are U medical school faculty. The only stipulation is that the money be used for research in the School of Medicine.
The four new appointees join three current Benning chair holders: Stephen M. Prescott, M.D., professor of internal medicine; D. Ware Branch, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology; and Edwin A. Stevens, M.D., professor and chair of radiology.
The seven chair holders will also become the founding members of the Benning Society. One of the group's first duties will be to recommend researchers to hold the five Benning chairs not yet filled.
A. Lorris Betz, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president for health sciences, said he expects the remaining five chairs to be filled in 2006.
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Contact:
John Edwards, U of U Health Sciences Center Development,
581-4087
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Phil Sahm, Health Sciences Center Office of Public Affairs,
581-2517