The Britton Chance Professorship

Britton ChanceThe Professorship was established in 1992 through the generosity of friends, colleagues, and family members of Britton Chance, PhD, DSc (1913–2010).

Eldridge Reeves Johnson Foundation Professor Emeritus in Biophysics and Biochemistry at the Perelman School of Medicine, Britton Chance directed the Institute for Biophysics and Biomedical Research. The Director of the Institute of Structural and Functional Studies from 1982 to 1990, Dr. Chance was a key participant in the development of radar during World War II and the invention of numerous navigational tools. He discovered co-Enzyme A, the major metabolic pathway, and his pioneering work led to the development of magnetic resonance imaging. Throughout his eminent career, Britton Chance was a consultant to many organizations worldwide, including the American Red Cross, the U.S. Navy, and the National Cancer Institute. He received a multitude of honors and awards, including the National Medal of Science in 1974 and the Magnetic Resonance Society Gold Medal in 1988, and he was a foreign member of the Royal Society of London.

 

Robert H. MachCurrent Chairholder
Robert H. Mach, PhD

Robert H. Mach, PhD has held faculty positions at the University of Pennsylvania (1987–1992) and Wake Forest University (1992–2002). In 2002, he moved to Washington University School of Medicine, where he was a Professor in the Departments of Radiology, Cell Biology & Physiology, and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics. He was also the Director of the Washington University Cyclotron Facility (2004–2013) and Chief of the Radiological Chemistry Lab (2007–2013) of the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. In 2013, he returned to the University of Pennsylvania as the Britton Chance Professor of Radiology and Director of the PET Radiochemistry Program. Dr. Mach is a former President of the Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Council of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences. He has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and 10 book chapters, and he holds 20 patents on the development of PET-based radiopharmaceuticals.

Previous Chairholders

  • John S. Leigh, Jr., PhD 1992–2008