The George W. Raiziss Professorship of Biochemistry & Biophysics
The Professorship was established in 1989 by Mrs. Beatrice Agron (1915–1991) and Dr. Sonia Raiziss Giop (1906–1994) in memory of their father, George W. Raiziss, MD, PhD (1884–1945), a distinguished member of the faculty at the Perelman School of Medicine from 1918 to 1945.
Dr. Raiziss was the first to hold the title of Professor of Chemotherapy and was already respected worldwide for his pioneering work in the field when he came to Penn in 1918. A foremost biochemist and Co-founder of the Dermatological Research Laboratory, Dr. Raiziss is credited with the development of early remedies for neurosyphilis, as well as a treatment for leprosy. His synthesis of chemotherapeutic and antiseptic agents has been seminal in the treatment of a wide variety of infectious diseases and in the sterilization of surgical instruments. In 1923, he authored the standard text Organic Arsenical Compounds. In addition, he wrote over 150 scientific articles and was the editor of the Journal of Chemotherapy.
Current Chairholder
Ronen Marmorstein, PhD
Dr. Marmorstein joined the faculty at The Wistar Institute in 1994. In 2013, Dr. Marmorstein relocated to the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where he is currently a Professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, and an Investigator in the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute (AFCRI). Dr. Marmorstein also holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Marmorstein’s laboratory uses a broad range of biochemical, biophysical, and structural research tools including X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy to understand the molecular mechanisms of protein post- and co-translational modification and epigenetics with a particular focus on protein acetylation and phosphorylation and chromatin regulation. The laboratory also uses high-throughput small-molecule screening and structure-based design strategies towards the development of protein-specific small-molecule probes to be used to interrogate protein function and for preclinical studies.
Dr. Marmorstein obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Chicago followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.
Previous Chairholders
- William F. DeGrado, PhD 1997–2007; 2010–2011
- Mark A. Lemmon, PhD 2012–2015