Pearl Basser Professorship for BRCA-Related Research

Pearl Basser PhotoShari and Len Potter established the Pearl Basser Professorship for BRCA-Related Research in 2019 in honor of Shari’s late mother, Pearl Basser.  

Shari Potter is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Fordham University School of Law. She practiced environmental law in New York City at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel. Len Potter is the President and Chief Investment Officer at Wildcat Capital Management, a private investment advisory firm. Shari and Len live in Scarsdale, NY and have three children, Dustin, Cami, and Josh. Cami and Josh are both Penn graduates.  

Shari is a member of the Basser Center Advisory Board, as well as the Abramson Cancer Center Director’s Leadership Council. Len is a member of the Abramson Cancer Center’s Innovation Advisory Board.  

Shari and Len are longtime champions of the Basser Center and Penn. In 2013, the Potters established and endowed the annual Basser Global Prize, which honors a visionary scientist in the field who has advanced BRCA1/2-related research. Shari and Len also established the Carole and Stuart Potter Professorship in BRCA Clinical Care in honor of Len’s parents. Shari and Len are also generous supporters of undergraduate scholarships at the University, having established the Pearl and Philip Basser Endowed Scholarship. 


NathansonCurrent Chairholder:

Katherine L. Nathanson, MD

Katherine (Kate) L. Nathanson, MD, is the Pearl Basser Professor for BRCA-Related Research, in the Division of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics, and Genetics, at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Deputy Director of the Abramson Cancer Center, and Director of Genetics for the Basser Center for BRCA. She is internationally recognized for both her clinical and research expertise in cancer genetics/genomics. 

Her research focuses on both inherited susceptibility to cancer and somatic genetic characterization of tumors, with interests across multiple tumor types, including testicular germ cell tumors, hereditary breast and ovarian cancers, melanoma and neuroendocrine tumors. She has led studies leading to important insights in all these cancer types, playing critical roles in genotype-phenotype studies in multiple genes underlying hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, leading studies to understand the molecular features and immune profile of tumors associated with BRCA1/2 mutations, and studies elucidating genetic variation leading to testicular cancer susceptibility and the underlying disrupted pathways, as the leader of the Testicular Cancer Consortium (TECAC). 

Dr. Nathanson has published over 350 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Nature, JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine and Cancer Cell. Dr. Nathanson has an extensive record of national service, serving on committees for multiple organizations, such as ACMG and AACR, several editorial boards, and scientific review committees, and served as Chair of the Cancer Genetics study section for the National Institutes of Health. She has received multiple awards, including William Osler Patient Oriented Research Award, Frohlich Visiting Professorship (AACR/Royal Society of Medicine Foundation), SDHB PheoPara Coalition Science Award, AACR Team Science Award, AAMC Group on Information Resources, Metro Philadelphia Healthcare Power Player and has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians.