The John W. Eckman Professorship of Medical Science

John W. EckmanThe Professorship was established in 1989 through the generosity of Rhône-Poulenc Rorer to honor its retired CEO John W. Eckman, an alumnus of the Wharton School Class of 1943 and a celebrated industrialist committed to the enrichment of Philadelphia’s scientific, cultural and educational communities.

John W. Eckman was a leader in the pharmaceutical industry for over 35 years. Believing strongly that “being a good citizen is good business,” Mr. Eckman devoted his efforts and resources to the enhancement of the arts in Philadelphia as well as to the city’s hospitals, schools, youth centers, commerce, and urban improvement coalitions. A member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Eckman received the Alumni Award of Merit in 1972 and was awarded an Honorary Degree from the University in 1984. He was the recipient of the Louis Braille Award, the Philadelphia Caring Award, and the Industrialist of the Year Award.


 

Cherry PhotoCurrent Chairholder

Sara Cherry, PhD

Sara Cherry, PhD is Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine in the Department of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.  She is also Scientific Director for the High-Throughput Screening Core and Director of the Program for Chemogenomic Discovery in the Penn Center for Precision Medicine.   

Dr. Cherry received her BS from the University of California, Berkeley and her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in genetics at Harvard Medical School.  
Dr. Cherry has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Cell, Nature, Immunity, and Molecular Cell. She has an extensive record of national service, serving on committees for multiple organizations as well as several editorial boards and scientific review committees including for the National Institutes of Health. 

The Cherry Lab is interested in the interface between viruses and hosts. Dr. Cherry uses chemical and genetic screening technologies to perform a wide array of cell-based screens in human and insect cells, studying emerging ribonucleic (RNA) viruses. The laboratory has had a long-standing interest in emerging and globally important viruses, including arthropod-borne viruses such as dengue virus and respiratory viruses including SARS-CoV-2. Dr. Cherry is interested in how these viruses are able to hijack cellular factors for infection while evading early immune responses. More recently, Dr. Cherry has been developing antivirals to treat these diverse but globally important viral infections. 

Previous Chairholder:

  • Mark I. Greene, MD