The Thomas and Evelyn Suor Butterworth Professorship of Genetics

Thomas ButterworthThe Thomas and Evelyn Suor Butterworth Professorship was created by the Trustees in 2000 to support research in the field of genetics. Thomas Butterworth, MD, MMSc was an alumnus of the College of Arts and Sciences and earned his medical and graduate medical degrees at the Perelman School of Medicine. He was a practicing dermatologist, who was notably Chief of the Departments of Dermatology at the Pennhurst State School and Hospital and the Reading Hospital. He was a prolific author, publishing in the fields of dermatology and genodermatology.

 

Klaus H. KaestnerCurrent Chairholder
Klaus H. Kaestner, PhD

Klaus H. Kaestner, PhD is the Thomas and Evelyn Suor Butterworth Professor of Genetics and Associate Director of the Diabetes Research Center and the Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Diseases. His work has focused on the molecular genetic basis of organogenesis and function of the liver, pancreas and gastrointestinal tract and, more recently, on the epigenomic basis of liver cancer and pancreatic endocrine function. Dr. Kaestner has combined innovative mouse genetic models with state-of-the-art functional genomic analysis to make discoveries that are at the critical intersection of developmental biology, metabolism, and cancer. Dr. Kaestner has been at the forefront of functional genomics, including a landmark study that laid the groundwork for investigating the epigenetic changes that contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. In addition, he combined genetic and genomic tools to explain the sexual dimorphism in liver cancer in mammals and demonstrate that nucleosome positions are dynamic in embryonic stem cell differentiation.

Previous Chairholders

  • Richard S. Spielman, PhD 2000–2009