In February 2017, the Mark B. Orringer, M.D., Research Professorship in Thoracic Surgery was formally inaugurated. Made possible through gifts from colleagues, former trainees, the Orringer family and departmental funding, the endowment will support the academic research and clinical efforts of a faculty member in the Section of Thoracic Surgery. Orringer, an internationally recognized authority on esophageal surgery, has made numerous contributions to the field and developed two leading esophageal operations: the transhiatal esophagectomy and the combined Collis-Nissen hiatal hernia repair. Jules Lin, M.D. (Residency 2006), professor of thoracic surgery, surgical director of the Lung Transplant Program and representative of the United Network for Organ Sharing Region 10, will serve as the first Orringer Professor.
Bethany Moore, Ph.D., became the first Galen B. Toews, M.D., Collegiate Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in a March 2017 ceremony. The endowment, made possible through the generosity of many donors as well as departmental funds, commemorates Toews, a U-M pulmonologist and pioneer in the field of lung immunology who helped build the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at U-M. A major gift also came from donor Loretta Skewes, a longtime research chemist for Ford Motor Co., who died in 2016. The Toews Professorship will support Moore's research, some of which she conducted with Toews, within the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine.
The Jeffrey B. Halter, M.D., Collegiate Professorship in Geriatric Medicine was inaugurated during a May 2017 ceremony. Halter was recruited to U-M in 1984, where he was appointed professor of internal medicine and founding chief of the Division of Geriatric Medicine, a position he held until 2011. He also served as director of both the U-M Geriatrics Center and the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, which he established. Raymond L. Yung, M.B., Ch.B., chief of the Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine, director of the Institute of Gerontology and of the Geriatrics Center, associate director of the VA GRECC, and professor of internal medicine, is the first Halter Professor.
A June 2017 ceremony established the Jerome Jacobson Professorship in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences to support glaucoma research. Jacobson, who died in 2008, was a grateful patient of the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center and a passionate philanthropist. He was deeply appreciative of the care he received for glaucoma at U-M, and he flew to Michigan for regular checkups while living in Washington, D.C. Sayoko E. Moroi, M.D. (Fellowship 1995), Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology, glaucoma service chief and glaucoma service fellowship director for the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, will serve as the first Jacobson Professor, thanks to the generous support of the Jerome Jacobson Foundation.
