Melissa and Paul Anderson President's Distinguished Professorship

The Professorship was established in 2016 through the generosity of the Anderson family. Their gift provides financial support for a prominent faculty member in the Perelman School of Medicine with a preference toward those who possess expertise in multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuro-immunology. It is the family’s hope that the chairholder will create a collaborative partnership with Penn’s world-renowned immunology researchers to make breakthrough discoveries in research and care directed toward MS patients.

Drs. Melissa and Paul Anderson are clinical psychologists who are devoting their careers to counseling young children. In addition, Melissa Anderson is a Trustee of the Neubauer Family Foundation, the Friends’ Central School and the Smith Memorial Playground Boards. Through their philanthropic service and support, the Andersons are advancing numerous arts, education and medical organizations across the Philadelphia region.

President’s Distinguished Professorships are awarded to eminent faculty members with research and teaching expertise in areas identified by the President of the University as high priorities. The creation of President’s Distinguished Professorships at the Perelman School of Medicine has been supported by the challenge gift of Penn University Trustees and Penn Medicine Board members George A. Weiss and Richard W. Vague.

Current Chairholder
Amit Bar-Or, MD

Amit Bar-Or, MD, FRCPC is Chief of the Division of Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders and Director of the Center for Neuroinflammation and Experimental Therapeutics. He has held the Melissa and Paul Anderson President's Distinguished Professorship since 2017.

Dr. Bar-Or received his medical degree from McGill University and pursued his neurology residency and fellowship training in neuroimmunology at Harvard University. There, he also completed the Harvard/MIT Clinical Investigator Training Program. Dr. Bar-Or served on the faculty of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University in Montreal prior to joining the faculty at Penn Medicine.

An overarching theme of Dr. Bar-Or’s research is the translation of basic lab discoveries into the development of novel experimental therapies. He leads cellular and molecular immunology studies of the mechanisms of autoimmune disease with a focus on multiple sclerosis (MS) and seeks to elucidate basic principles of immune regulation and immune-neural interactions.