The Edward S. Cooper, MD/Norman Roosevelt and Elizabeth Meriwether McLure Professorship

Dr. CooperThe Professorship was established in 2005 through the generosity of the friends and patients of Dr. Cooper and the bequest of Elizabeth Meriwether McLure (1888–1972), wife of Norman Roosevelt McLure (1880–1941). The chair honors Edward S. Cooper, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, who dedicated his career to the prevention and treatment of stroke and advocated for access to affordable health care. He is the first tenured African-American physician-professor at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Dr. Cooper completed his internship and medical residency at Philadelphia General Hospital (PGH). He then served for two years as Chief of the U.S. Air Force Hospital in the Philippines. He went on to complete a National Heart Institute Fellowship at PGH and joined the hospital’s staff and the faculty of the Perelman School in 1958. Among his leadership roles at PGH, he was President of the Medical Staff, Chief of the Medical Service, and Co-Founder of the Stroke Research Center.

Widely published on stroke and on health care, Dr. Cooper has served extensively in national and local organizations. In addition to writing for the popular press, he chaired the committee that produced the American Heart Association’s (AHA’s) scientific statement “Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in African-American and Other Racial Minorities.” In 1992, he became the first black President of the AHA, and his many awards include the AHA’s highest honor, the Gold Heart Award.

 

Mark L. KahnCurrent Chairholder
Mark L. Kahn, MD

Dr. Mark Kahn is a practicing cardiologist in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a recipient of the Judah Folkman Award in Vascular Biology from the North American Vascular Biology Organization (NAVBO) and holds the Cooper-McLure Chair in Medicine. Mark is widely recognized nationally and internationally for career contributions in the field of vascular development and function. He has made numerous scientific contributions including basic mechanisms of thrombosis, lymphatic vascular function and growth, the role of fluid shear forces and signaling pathways in cardiovascular development, and mechanisms of vascular malformation. Mark’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Heart Lung Blood Institutes, the Leducq Foundation and the American Heart Association. Mark has been a mentor to many outstanding graduate students and post doctoral fellows in his laboratory who have become highly successful independent scientists and physician-scientists.

Previous Chairholders

  • Daniel J. Rader, MD 2005–2014