The William Maul Measey Professorship of Surgery
The Professorship was established in 1971 through gifts from the Benjamin and Mary Siddons Measey Foundation in honor of William Maul Measey (1875–1967), an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania Law School Class of 1898.
William Maul Measey, a distinguished corporate attorney in Philadelphia, created the Benjamin and Mary Siddons Measey Foundation in 1958 to honor the memory of his parents. Since the Foundation supports several colleges, universities, schools of medicine, and hospitals in the Philadelphia area, the Measey name has become synonymous with the furtherance of medical education in the region.
Current Chairholder
Rachel R. Kelz, MD, MSCE, MBA, FACS
Rachel R. Kelz, MD MSCE MBA FACS is the William Maul Measey Professor of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Surgery with an active endocrine surgery practice focused on diseases of the thyroid and parathyroid glands. She has been continuously voted a Top Doc by Philadelphia magazine. Dr. Kelz serves as the Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery, an Associate Program Director of the General Surgery Residency Program, the Director of the Center for Surgery and Health Economics and the Surgeon Champion for the ACS NSQIP at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Kelz is formally trained in health services research. Her research is centered on surgical outcomes, surgical education, and the eradication of surgical disparities. She has received private and public grant support for her work, has authored numerous chapters and more than 300 peer reviewed manuscripts. Dr. Kelz has edited two books on surgical quality and safety. She is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Kelz is a devoted mentor committed to training the next generation of leaders in Surgery.
Dr. Kelz has received numerous awards for her work including the Gordon P. Buzby Award for leadership, the Mentorship Award from the Department of Surgery, and the Christian R. and the Mary F. Lindback Award for distinguished teaching from the Provost’s office at the University. The Lindback is the most prominent educational award given by the University. Most recently, Dr. Kelz was awarded the Samuel Martin Health Evaluation Sciences Research Award.
Dr. Kelz actively advances surgery through her work in national organizations. She currently serves as the President of the Society of Clinical Surgery and a councilor of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons. Dr. Kelz fosters excellence in scientific publication via her roles as a Deputy Editor to Journal of the American College of Surgeons and an editorial board member of the American Journal of Surgery. She is a member of the American Surgical Association and the Southern Surgical Association. She holds a BS in Mathematics from Union College, an MD from Yale University, an MS in Clinical Epidemiology from Penn, and an Executive MBA from the Wharton School.
Previous Chairholders
- L. Henry Edmunds, MD 1973–1993
- Timothy J. Gardner, MD 1993–2004
- Michael A. Acker, MD 2006–2017
- Robert C. Gorman, MD 2017–2020