The Jonathan E. Rhoads Professorship of Surgery II
This Professorship was established in 2019, when the value of the endowment of the Jonathan E. Rhoads Professorship of Surgery had increased sufficiently to support a second professorship. The original Professorship was established in 1978 through the contributions of colleagues, friends, and grateful patients of Jonathan E. Rhoads, MD (1908–2002) for his over 50 years of distinguished contributions as a physician, scientist, educator, scholar, and Professor of Surgery at Penn Medicine.
Dr. Rhoads served his residency in surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1949, he became the J. William White Professor of Surgical Research and, in l959, was named the John Rhea Barton Professor of Surgery, serving as Chairman of the Department from 1959 to 1972. Dr. Rhoads is credited with numerous medical advances, including an early exploration into the use of antibiotics, discoveries in the factors regulating the level of plasma prothrombin, and the development of intravenous hyperalimentation. He was an active member of innumerable national and local civic, medical and educational associations. Dr. Rhoads served as Provost of the University of Pennsylvania from 1956 to 1959.
Current Chairholder
Ali Naji, MD, PhD
Ali Naji, MD, PhD, is a leader in the science of the immunology of diabetes and in unraveling the mechanisms of immune tolerance. He is the Director of the JDRF-Penn Islet Transplantation Program, Associate Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, and the J. William White Professor of Surgical Research at the Perelman School of Medicine.
Dr. Naji completed his clinical residency and fellowship training in general, vascular, and transplantation surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine, where he also obtained his PhD in immunology. He joined the faculty in 1981 and has led efforts to promote successful islet transplantation for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes.
Dr. Naji has received many awards and has served as Chair of the Medical Science Advisory Board of the JDRF. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is Associate Editor for the journals Transplantation, Diabetes and Transplantation Immunology.