Profiles of current holders of endowed chairs and professorships at The Ohio State University Medical Center and insight into the donors and namesakes of these prestigious positions.
Arnab Chakravarti, MD
The Max Morehouse Chair in Cancer Research
Arnab Chakravarti, MD, arrived at Ohio State earlier this year from Harvard Medical School, assuming the positions of professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Medicine. He is a member of the Experimental Therapeutics program at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has published more than 60 articles and book chapters and has delivered numerous distinguished lectureships on the molecular mechanisms of radiation resistance in gliomas and prostate cancer.
Namesake: The Max Morehouse Chair in Cancer Research was established in 2000 by Martha Morehouse to honor her father Max, who died in 1923. A retail business owner, he opened the department store Rowland, Morehouse and Martens Co. in 1899, which was renamed Morehouse-Martens in 1908. Mr. Morehouse is recognized by the Ohio Historical Society for commissioning the first commercial air-freight in the history of modern flight when he hired a pilot to fly a bolt of silk fabric from Dayton to Columbus in 1910.
Mary Elizabeth Fontana, MD
The Harry C. and Mary Elizabeth Powelson Professorship of Medicine
Professor emeritus of Internal Medicine, Mary Fontana, MD, has been in cardiology and a member of the Ohio State faculty since 1970. She has taught for more than three decades and has been recognized with more than 20 outstanding teaching awards. Board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease, Fontana’s clinical and research interests include valvular and congenital heart disease, mitral valve prolapse and mitral regurgitation
Namesake: The Powelson Professorship was established in 1976 with a bequest from Dr. Harry C. Powelson, a two-time graduate of Ohio State: he received a bachelor’s degree in 1922 and a medical degree in 1924. A resident of Zanesville, Ohio, Dr. Powelson died in 1972 and Mrs. Powelson in 1967. They had two daughters who were also OSU graduates, class of 1952. The professorship provides tutorial services for worthy and needy medical students, which was of great interest to Dr. Powelson.
Electra Paskett, PhD
Marion N. Rowley Designated Chair in Cancer Research
A two-time breast cancer survivor, Electra Paskett, PhD, is associate director of Population Sciences at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute and co-leader of the Cancer Control Program at the OSUCCC. Since coming to Ohio State in January 2002, Paskett has served as professor in the College of Public Health and director of the Diversity Enhancement Program at The James. Her research interests include minority and women’s health, cancer survivorship and the impact of diet on cancer survival.
Namesake: Marion Newcomb Rowley died in 1998 at age 91 in Glendale, California. A graduate of USC, she was a teacher in the Glendale school system for nearly 60 years. Mrs. Rowley, along with lifelong friend and business partner Dorothy Klotz, made a $10 million donation for cancer research to Ohio State; the women were honored in 1992 by having the 11th and 12th floors at The James named for them: the Dorothy Klotz and Marion Rowley Research Laboratories.
The page was written by Jami Brunk Young.