The Isaac and Rose Nassau Professorship of Orthopaedic Molecular Medicine in Orthopaedic Surgery

The first endowed chair in molecular orthopaedic medicine, the Professorship was established in 1996 by Diane Weiss, in memory of her beloved parents, Rose and Isaac Nassau. The chair is intended to promote international research in the molecular genetics of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) and progressive osseous heteroplasia (POH)—two devastating and crippling musculoskeletal disorders.

Mrs. Weiss made the gift after hearing stories of children with the disease. It is one of her many contributions to Penn; she and her former husband George A. Weiss established several professorships at the University, including the George and Diane Weiss Professorship, which is held by the Dean of the School of Education. Mrs. Weiss served on the Board of Overseers for the School of Education and on the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women for many years.

Current Chairholder
Frederick S. Kaplan, MD

In 1988, Frederick S. Kaplan, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon, met a child with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a rare and disabling disorder in which the body forms a second skeleton of heterotopic bone. Motivated to do more, he began a pioneering second career in FOP research, work that led to the discovery of the FOP gene, the seminal target for all therapeutic efforts for FOP.

Dr. Kaplan directs the only center in the world devoted entirely to FOP, has organized the medical and scientific communities worldwide on FOP, and is recognized as the world’s leading expert on the disease. In 1996, he was awarded the first endowed chair in the nation for orthopaedic molecular medicine. Dr. Kaplan also is Chief of the Division of Molecular Orthopaedic Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine.

In 2009, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. In 2006, Newsweek cited Dr. Kaplan as one of 15 people who make America great, noting that “the disease was so rare, nobody wanted to deal with it until he came along.”