The Franklin Payne Professorship of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Franklin Payne

The Professorship was established in 1984 through the contributions of one grateful patient and from funds donated by colleagues and friends of Franklin Payne, MD (1899 -1891) to honor his contributions as chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania and to support research in the area of gynecologic oncology.

Dr. Payne was an honors graduate of the Perelman School of Medicine Class of 1925 and spent over 30 years of his distinguished career at Penn Medicine. He was appointed William Goodell Professor of Gynecology in 1941 and became Chairman of the Department in 1950, a position he held until 1964. Under Dr. Payne’s leadership, the Department developed a highly regarded practice in general obstetrics, which served the Philadelphia community and was a superior source for the training of physicians and staff specializing in the field.

 

Samuel ParryCurrent Chairholder
Samuel Parry, MD

Samuel Parry, MD joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and currently serves as Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is the Principal Investigator for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network and co-Principal Investigator for the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Penn. A graduate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Medical School, Dr. Parry completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at SUNY at Buffalo Medical Center and a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Parry has received continuous funding from the NIH for more than 20 years to support his studies focused on placental function and preterm birth, and he has served as the Principal Investigator at Penn for NIH networks studying adverse pregnancy outcomes (Genomic and Proteomic Network for Preterm Birth Research and nuMoM2b Network). He has written numerous papers and is an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Clinical interests include fetal monitoring, which he has taught to obstetrical residents at Penn for the past 20 years.

Previous Chairholders

  • John J. Mikuta, MD 1985–2003
  • Stephen C. Rubin, MD 2003–2014