The Gaylord P. & Mary Louise Harnwell Professorship

Gaylord P. HarnwellThe Professorship was created in 1963 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania to acknowledge the innumerable contributions made by Dr. Harnwell as President of the University from 1953 to 1970.

Gaylord P. Harnwell, PhD, a nationally renowned atomic physicist, came to the University of Pennsylvania in 1938 as a Professor of Physics and as Director of the Randall Morgan Laboratory of Physics. He served as Chairman of the Department of Physics prior to his appointment as President of the University. During his 17-year tenure as President, Dr. Harnwell accelerated the fundraising effort, increased financial aid, expanded student enrollment, and increased sponsored research throughout the University. He also oversaw the completion of 22 major University facilities and buildings, including the I.S. Ravdin Institute of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Alfred Newton Richards Medical Research Building.

The Chair is not confined to a specific school, department, or discipline. The main qualifications for the professorship are the depth and breadth of scholarship and the national and international reputation of the proposed faculty member.

Warren S. PearCurrent Chairholder
Warren S. Pear, MD, PhD

Warren S. Pear, MD, PhD is the Gaylord P. & Mary Louise Harnwell Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine. He received his BA in economics from Williams College, an MD from the University of Rochester, and a PhD in tumor biology from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

A major area of interest in Dr. Pear’s laboratory is understanding the processes that lead to the development and differentiation of mature hematopoietic cells from a single hematopoietic stem cell. He is particularly interested in studying the processes that perturb these normal processes and cause leukemia. A primary focus of the laboratory is the role that Notch proteins play in regulating hematopoietic cell fate decisions and cancer.

 

Previous Chairholders:

  • George W. Taylor, PhD 1964–1976
  • Harry Harris, MD 1976–1990
  • Pathology & Laboratory Medicine: Peter C. Nowell, MD 1990–2006