Jerome F. Strauss, III, MD, PhD, Assistant Professorship of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Established in 2018, the professorship honors Jerome F. Strauss III, MD, PhD, a luminary in the field of reproductive medicine. Dr. Strauss is an emeritus professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine and former Dean of the School of Medicine of Virginia Commonwealth University. During his 30 years at Penn, he served as founding Director of the Center for Research on Reproduction and Women’s Health, Associate Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Program Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program, and Associate Dean of the medical school.
Dr. Strauss was first introduced to working in a reproductive endocrinology research laboratory at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He then returned to Brown University during his senior year, where Dr. Strauss authored four academic journal articles and had an extensive knowledge base for someone of his age and experience. He credits his success at the Weizmann Institute to the generosity of numerous mentors, saying “I was fortunate that there were people willing to invest time and effort in me.” Reproductive endocrinology became a lifelong research focus, and mentorship became an essential element of his career.
After graduating from Brown, Strauss joined one of the country’s first National Institutes of Health-funded MD-PhD programs at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where the goal was to train physicians to do clinically relevant research. His interest in developmental biology and endocrinology led him to post-graduate medical training in the School’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, where he solidified his “motivation for medicine from a scientific perspective of wanting to improve well-being through advances in research and its application to patient care."
Current Chairholder
Kristin D. Gerson, MD, PhD
Dr. Kristin D. Gerson is a Maternal Fetal Medicine physician scientist at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine conducting translational research in reproductive biology with a specific focus on microbiome-metabolome interactions governing cervical remodeling and preterm birth. She carries dual appointments in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Department of Microbiology. Dr. Gerson is the Director of Translational Research for the Pregnancy and Perinatal Research Center (PPRC). She is an affiliate member of the Center of Excellence for Environmental Toxicology (CEET) and an associate member of the Institution for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT).
She is an R01-funded independent investigator and the recipient of numerous research awards, including The Danielle Peress, MD Memorial Fund Award, the Foundation for SMFM/AAOGF Scholarship, as well as multiple institutional grants. Her laboratory is housed within the Center for Women’s Health and Reproductive Medicine (CWHRM).
Dr. Gerson received her BA from Stanford University and both her MD and PhD from the University of Massachusetts. She completed OB/GYN residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston followed by Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.
Previous Chairholder
- Monica Mainigi, MD 2018-2022