Alumni

By Darla Brown

Schiess, Thomas named to endowed professorships

Two new holders of endowed professorships have been named at the Medical School, effective Sept. 1. Mya Schiess, M.D., is the Adriana Blood Chair in Neurology and Eric Thomas, M.D., is the Griff T. Ross Professorship in Humanities and Technology in Health Care.

These positions are a testament to Dr. Schiess’ and Dr. Thomas’ research and academic accomplishments, wrote James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center.

Dr. Thomas, a faculty member in the Department of Internal Medicine, is a national leader in patient safety and quality research and education. He recently received the 2007 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Research.

“I’m thankful that the Ross family and the Health Science Center have provided this endowed fellowship,” Dr. Thomas says. “It will help support our research and educational activities to improve the quality and safety of health care.”

Dr. Schiess is the director of the neurology residency training program and the Movement Disorders and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Her clinical interests include Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, and her research involves the patho-etiology of Parkinson’s and developing diagnostic biological markers for this disease.

“I am deeply honored by my appointment to the Adriana Blood Chair in Neurology,” Dr. Schiess says. “This endowment will support my research into the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease, the identification and affirmation of early biomarkers in Parkinson’s disease, and the mentoring and education of neurology residents, medical students, and fellows in the subspecialty of movement disorders.”

The Griff T. Ross Professorship was created in 1984 and was held by Stanley Reiser, M.D., Ph.D., until his departure from the university. It was created by a combination of private donations and institutional funds and is named for Dr. Ross, an internationally recognized endocrinologist and educator who joined the Medical School in 1981 as associate dean of clinical affairs and professor of medicine following work at the National Institutes of Health.

The Adriana Blood Chair in Neurology was created in 1992 with a gift from W. Joseph Blood, a former Development Board member, in honor of Adriana Blood, his first wife, who died in 1991. Dr. Ian Butler, professor of pediatric neurology, previously held the Blood Chair and now holds the Blood Professorship.