The Ferdinand Weisbrod Professorship

The Professorship was created in 2003 with the generous trust gift of Ferdinand G. Weisbrod, MD (1918–2011), a University of Pennsylvania alumnus of the Class of 1942 and a Perelman School of Medicine graduate of the Class of 1950. The chair supports a professor in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Following his education and service in the U.S. Army in England during World War II, Dr. Weisbrod practiced as a gastroenterologist for more than 30 years at East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey. In midlife, he transitioned to a career in owning and managing residential real estate.

As a young man, Dr. Weisbrod was impressed by Andrew Carnegie’s idea that wealth should be invested in philanthropy. He decided that if he ever had the capacity, he would remember the University, “the place that was so important to me in finding my place in the world.” He was very pleased to make the Ferdinand Weisbrod Professorship part of his legacy.

Current Chairholder
Gary D. Wu, MD

Gary D. Wu, MD is the inaugural Ferdinand Weisbrod Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is Associate Chief for Research in the Division of Gastroenterology and Co-Director of the PennCHOP Microbiome Program. Dr. Wu also serves as Associate Director of the Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Disease, in which he is the Director of its Host-Microbial Analytic and Repository Core. He is an elected member of both the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Wu is an acknowledged expert in the interaction between diet, the gut microbiome, and the host metabolome. As a physician-scientist, he has gained international recognition for his highly innovative multidisciplinary team approach to translational research that will help guide the development of therapeutic strategies relevant to inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic diseases.