The Sylvan H. Eisman Professorship of Medicine II

This Professorship was established in 2022, when the value of the endowment of the Sylvan H. Eisman Professorship of Medicine had increased sufficiently to support a second professorship. Originally established in 1983 by grateful patients, colleagues, and friends, the Sylvan H. Eisman Professorship honors the 1937 alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania and distinguished graduate of the Perelman School of Medicine, Class of 1941, in recognition of his many contributions to the field of medicine and his exceptional devotion to medical practice. 

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Clinical Medicine Sylvan Eisman (1916–2007) was associated with the University of Pennsylvania for over 60 years as a college and medical student, as Chief Resident for Francis C. Wood, MD, and as an esteemed faculty member. Dr. Eisman, who practiced general internal medicine with a specialty in oncology, helped establish the chemotherapy unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1983, Dr. Eisman was appointed the first Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine. Although he retired from private practice in 1989, he maintained an office at Penn Medicine, where for many years he addressed the problems of risk management and medical malpractice. 

Current Chairholder
Susan J. Mandel, MD, MPH

Susan J. Mandel, MD, MPH is Professor of Medicine and Radiology and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Her clinical practice focuses on thyroid neoplasia. Her research interests include sonography in the evaluation of patients with thyroid nodules and cancer. Dr. Mandel was on the writing group for the ATA Management Guidelines for Patients with Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer and is co-chairing the 2023 ATA Guidelines for Patients with Thyroid nodules.  Dr. Mandel initiated and directed the Ultrasound workshops for the ATA and Endocrine Society. Dr. Mandel has received the Endocrine Society's Distinguished Educator Award the 2019 ATA WIT Woman of the Year award, and the AACE H. Jack Baskin Endocrine Teaching Award.  She also received the Louis Duhring Outstanding Clinical Specialist Award from Penn Medicine. Dr. Mandel is past President of the Endocrine Society (2018-19) and a past President of the Association of Program Directors in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism.

She was the Program Director of the Fellowship program at Penn where she trained over 70 fellows, 8 of whom now serve as Endocrine Fellowship Program Directors. Dr. Mandel has over 90 peer reviewed publications in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and the Annals of Internal Medicine. She has also authored chapters on thyroid disorders in Harrison’s Textbook of Medicine and thyroid nodules in Werner and Ingbar’s The Thyroid.