Nine faculty members have recently been appointed to named professorships.
Several faculty members at the University of Rochester have been appointed to named professorships. An honor designed to recognize the national stature of a professor’s work, the named positions are part of a long-standing tradition to celebrate the work of Rochester’s faculty as researchers, scholars, and teachers.
Alex Levin
Alex Levin, a professor of ophthalmology, has been jointly appointed as the Adeline Lutz—Steven S.T. Ching, M.D. Distinguished Professor in Ophthalmology. He was also jointly appointed as a professor of pediatrics.
Levin provides medical and surgical care to infants, children, and adolescents suffering from pediatric anterior segment eye conditions as well as adults and children with genetic eye disease. His research has helped advance the understanding and treatment of eye disease and related developmental anomalies, pediatric genetics, and in the improvement of health care delivery and public health.
The professorship was established by a gift to the Flaum Eye Institute from Adeline Lutz, a Rochester-area piano teacher, in honor of ophthalmologist and corneal surgeon Steven Ching.
Paul Levy
Paul Levy, a professor of medicine, has been jointly appointed as the C. Jane Davis & C. Robert Davis Distinguished Professor in Pulmonary Medicine.
Levy was chair of the Department of Medicine for 10 years, guiding faculty through the advent of electronic medical records, the implementation of a new compensation plan, the growth of regional and population health models of care, and a host of other changes. Levy also serves as medical director of the Medical Center’s compliance program.
The position was established by the late physician Jane Davis for her and in memory of her late brother, Bob Davis.
Susana Marcos
Susana Marcos, a professor of optics and of ophthalmology, has been appointed as the David R. Williams Director of the Center for Visual Science and as the Nicholas George Endowed Professor in Optics.
Marcos is an internationally recognized expert in the optics of the eye and the interactions of light with the retina. She has made significant contributions to ocular speckle interferometry, wavefront sensing, adaptive optics, and quantitative anterior segment optical coherence tomography, with applications in laser refractive surgery, intraocular lenses, and the treatment of keratoconus and presbyopia, among others.
The directorship is endowed with a gift from John and Barbara Bruning. John Bruning, a member of the University’s Board of Trustees and retired CEO of Corning Tropel Corporation, and his wife, Barbara, have been generous supporters of the University. The Nicholas George Professorship at the University’s Institute of Optics was named in 2015 for George, a professor emeritus of optics and former director of the institute, in recognition of his influence in the world of optics and on his students.
Brian Marples
Brian Marples, a professor of radiation oncology, has been jointly appointed as the Dr. Sidney H. and Barbara L. Sobel Professor in Radiation Oncology.
Marples is an internationally renowned radiation biologist and nationally recognized educator whose research focuses on normal tissue toxicity. Before coming to Rochester, Marples was a research professor and director of radiobiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
A gift from Dr. Sidney Sobel ’73M (FLW) and his wife, Barbara, established the professorship at the Wilmot Cancer Institute in 2021.
Jeffrey McCune Jr.
Jeffrey McCune Jr. has been appointed as the Frederick Douglass Professor, an associate professor of English, and director of the Frederick Douglass Institute (FDI) for African and African-American Studies.
McCune is an award-winning author and leader in the field of Black sexuality studies. His work has been published in multiple journals and he has been an important contributor to global conversations on race, gender, and sexuality. Before joining Rochester’s faculty, he was an associate professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies and of African and African American studies at Washington University in St. Louis.
The Frederick Douglass Professorship, established with a gift from the late Fred Jensen ’42, recognizes the Rochester-based abolitionist and activist.
Ruth O’Regan
Ruth O’Regan, a professor of medicine, has been jointly appointed as chair of the Department of Medicine and as the Charles Ayrault Dewey Professor of Medicine.
O’Regan’s research centers on developing novel therapeutic approaches for treatment-resistant breast cancers, with a focus on triple-negative and endocrine-resistant metastatic breast cancers. She has a record of leadership in education and career development for trainees and faculty.
The professorship honors Charles A. Dewey, a founding faculty member of the University, to support the chair of the Department of Medicine.
Donatella Stocchi-Perucchio
Donatella Stocchi-Perucchio, an associate professor of modern languages and cultures, has been jointly appointed as the Arnold Lisio ’56, ’61M (MD) and Anne Moore Lisio, MD Endowed Distinguished Professor in Italian Language & Culture.
Stocchi-Perucchio’s research areas include Dante studies, modern Italian literature and culture, and the Ventennio. She has published on Dante, Cavalcanti, Pirandello, and Leopardi. Her other interests include the digital humanities as a new avenue for the study of literature in connection with the visual arts and the production of documentary film as an interpretive idiom to address literary and cultural phenomena.
The Lisio Distinguished Professorship was endowed by Arnold Lisio ’56, ’61M (MD) and Anne Moore Lisio. Rochester’s Italian studies program was also named for the Lisios in 2017 in recognition of their support.
David MacLean
David MacLean, an assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology, has been jointly appointed as the Paul Stark Professor in Pharmacology.
MacLean’s research program aims to understand the inter-relationships between ligand-gated ion channel form, function, and physiology.
The professorship was established by a gift from Paul Stark, who led the clinical team at Eli Lilly that developed Prozac. It supports pharmacologic research pertaining to the central nervous system.
Wojciech Zareba
Wojciech Zareba, a professor of medicine, has been jointly appointed as the inaugural David Mortara Endowed Professor in Cardiology. Zareba retains his joint appointment as Director of Heart Research in the Department of Medicine.
Zareba is principal investigator or coprincipal investigator on several National Institutes of Health and corporate grants focused on cardiac arrhythmias, risk stratification of cardiac death, heart failure, and other areas of heart research.
The Mortara Professorship was established in 2018 by a gift from David and Dona Mortara.
