The John Russell Dickson, MD Presidential Professorship

John Russell DicksonThe Professorship was established in 2015 through the bequest of Harrison McCrea Dickson, MD (1925–2015) of the Perelman School of Medicine Class of 1958. Dr. Dickson made the gift to honor the three generations of the Dickson family who graduated from the Perelman School of Medicine: he followed in the tradition of his father, John McCrea Dickson, MD of the Class of 1912, and grandfather, John Russell Dickson, MD of the Class of 1880. Funds from Dr. Harrison Dickson’s estate have created professorships in each of their names.

John Russell Dickson, MD (1853–1919) of Gettysburg, PA, was physician to the Adams County Poor Farm for nine years. He also served as County Medical Inspector and Physician-in-Charge of the State Tuberculosis Dispensary from 1908 until his death.

Presidential Professorships are awarded to exceptional scholars of any rank who will contribute to the diverse experiences, perspectives, and eminence of Penn faculty. They were established in 2011 to strengthen the University’s ability to recruit, retain and mentor distinguished scholars who are preeminent in their fields and have demonstrated a commitment to sustaining an inclusive and vibrant academic community.

Current Chairholder
Shekinah A. Fashaw-Walters, PhD

Shekinah A. Fashaw-Walters, PhD, is the John Russell Dickson, MD Presidential Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and a research associate at the Penn Population Aging Research Center. Dr. Fashaw-Walters is a health services researcher whose program of research focuses on understanding the inequities in aging while elucidating the roles of racism, place, and policies in the generation and reinforcement of health inequities within aging care access, quality, and outcomes. Her NIH-funded work has been published in numerous high-impact journals and featured in several national news outlets. Dr. Fashaw-Walters is AcademyHealth's 2024 Alice S. Hersh Emerging Leader, a 2024 NIMHD Health Disparities Research Institute Scholar, a 2022 NIA Butler-Williams Scholar, a former faculty scholar with the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory, an Editorial Board member at The Gerontologist, and a member of AcademyHealth’s Board of Directors. Dr. Fashaw-Walters earned her PhD in health services research from Brown University, a Master of Science in public health from UNC Chapel Hill's Department of Health Policy and Management in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Central Florida.

Past Chairholder

  • Holly Fernandez Lynch, JD, MBE 2017-2022