Mayo Clinic Trustees Recognize New Named Professors

Monday, November 13, 2006

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees recognized three awardees of Mayo Clinic named professorships at its quarterly meeting.

Critical care and pulmonary specialist Rolf Hubmayr, M.D., received the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Professorship in Cardiology and Critical Care in honor of Dr. Raymond Gibbons. Dr. Hubmayr is the first recipient of this professorship, created in 2006 and funded by Leonore and the late Walter Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation to support research in cardiology and critical care. Dr. Hubmayr joined Mayo Clinic in 1984 as a consultant in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care. An expert in health problems related to mechanical ventilation, Dr. Hubmayr focuses his present research on treatments that protect injured lungs from damage caused by breathing. Dr. Hubmayr is currently the chair of the Critical Care Committee and a member of the Mayo Clinic Rochester Hospital Practice Committee.

The trustees also recognized the recipients of two Walter and Leonore Annenberg Professorships in Pulmonary Medicine. These professorships were established this year by Leonore Annenberg and the late Walter Annenberg, and the Annenberg Foundation, to support research in pulmonary and critical care medicine. The first two honorees for these professorships are:

• Andrew Limper, M.D., a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Mayo Clinic. After a Mayo postdoctoral research fellowship, Dr. Limper joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in 1991. Dr. Limper is a clinical expert in pulmonary infections, interstitial lung diseases, and drug-induced lung disease. His research program focuses on lung infections in patients with compromised immune systems, as well as the causes and treatments of lung fibrosis. He is chair of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Director of the Thoracic Diseases Research Unit at Mayo Clinic Rochester.
  
• Richard Pagano, Ph.D., of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Pagano joined Mayo Clinic in 1994 as a career scientist and consultant in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He is internationally recognized for his research on the cell biology of lipids and its application to a number of neurodegenerative, lipid storage disorders such as Niemann Pick Type C disease. Dr. Pagano is also a member of Mayo Clinic's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Named professorships at Mayo Clinic represent the highest academic distinction for a faculty member. Faculty are appointed to a professorship through nomination and endorsement of their peers and then confirmed by Mayo Clinic senior leadership. Appointed individuals are recognized for distinguished achievement in their specialty areas and service to the institution.

Professorships are named in honor of the benefactors. The gift funds, which may be unrestricted or focused on a specific medical area, are held in endowment. All income from the endowed professorships supports Mayo Clinic programs in medical education and research.

The Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees, a 30-member group of public representatives and Mayo physicians and administrators, is responsible for patient care, medical education and research activities at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota. ###

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