Endowed Professorships & Chairs

Dr. Bhavana J. Dave was a professor of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology; Pediatrics; Genetics, Cell Biology, and Anatomy; and Munroe-Meyer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She was the director of Warren G. Sanger Human Genetics Laboratory at Nebraska Medicine. She was a board-certified clinical cytogeneticist by the American Board of Medical Genetics (ABMG) and was a fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG). Dr. Dave was actively involved in patient care, education, and research. She published over 140 research articles and trained numerous graduate students, medical residents, and fellows.

Dr. Dave obtained her PhD from the Gujarat Cancer Research Institute, Ahmedabad, India, and a postdoctoral training at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She joined the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1995 as a faculty member. She received numerous awards and recognition during her career. She lived her life with the simple concept of "World is One family,” which has been truly reflected in her presence, immense love, care, and generosity. Dr. Dave’s family established this professorship to continue her legacy.

Created in 1990 by Samuel M. Cohen, MD, PhD, and Janet L. Cohen, this professorship was part of Dr. David Purtilo’s vision to establish a large number of endowments to greatly enhance the reputation of the department going into the future. This specific professorship was established to support a faculty member involved with cancer research, reflecting what Dr. Cohen's career has been about since 1964 and recognizing the many family members and close friends who have suffered with this affliction.

The Sylvia L. Havlik Centennial Professorship of Oncology was created on March 2, 1983, to commemorate the life of Sylvia L. Havlik and her interest and concern in improving the lives of Nebraskans through cancer research. The professorship is given by the direction of the dean of the UNMC College of Medicine.

Ms. Havlik lived her entire life in Nebraska, growing up in the town of Ravenna in Buffalo County, where both her parents were homesteaders. She lived most of her adult life in Hastings, working as an executive secretary for Metz Bakery. She suffered from cancer, undergoing surgery for several years before her death in October 1980 in Omaha.

The endowed chair was established in honor of the late father of Steven Hinrichs, MD, former chair of the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, upon his retirement in 2023. His father, the late Rev. Peter Hinrichs of Dickinson, North Dakota, served Lutheran congregations in Redfield, South Dakota, and Dickinson and was involved in numerous other organizations, serving as a member of the North Dakota Board of Higher Education from 1969 to 1975. During his tenure, the medical school at the University of North Dakota was expanded to a four-year program. Rev. Hinrichs died in 1994.

Dr. Hinrichs, who grew up in Dickinson and earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Dakota, said the endowed chair recognizes his father’s contributions to higher education in North Dakota.

The chair was created with generous support from Dr. Hinrichs through the University of Nebraska Foundation. The gift was made as part of “Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future,” a historic effort to engage at least 150,000 benefactors to give $3 billion to support the University of Nebraska.

Dr. Chaudari Kommineni was a 1972 UNMC College of Medicine graduate who received his PhD in pathology. Over his career, he furthered the field of public health through his work with the American Board of Toxicology, the Federal Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. He was considered a great mentor and prolific writer, penning more than 50 scientific publications over his lifetime.

Chaudari Kommineni, DVM, PhD, obtained his PhD from the University of Nebraska after completing his graduate studies in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology. Dr. Kommineni went on to obtain a doctor of veterinary medicine degree and a distinguished career in pharmaceutical sciences.

It was his specific wish that his legacy professorship would support an outstanding researcher seeking to develop new therapeutic measures for life-threatening diseases. The Chaudari Kommineni, DVM, PHD, Professorship of Pathology Fund was established on March 12, 2013. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Kommineni passed away while in India, the country of his birth. His daughter, Maya Kommineni, is also in the medical profession and was consulted in the process facilitating the selection of the first Chaudari Kommineni Professorship recipient. In keeping with Dr. Kommineni’s wishes, Tammy Kielian, PhD, was identified as an outstanding match for the goals of the Kommineni professorship.

Henry F. Krous, MD, had a distinguished 37-year-career dedicated to research into sudden unexpected death in infancy and childhood, notably sudden infant death syndrome and sudden unexplained death in childhood. Dr. Krous graduated from the UNMC College of Medicine in 1969. He served as a clinical professor of pathology and pediatrics at the University of California Schools of Medicine, and as director of the San Diego SIDS/SUDC Research Project.

Jim Linder, MD, a 1980 graduate of the UNMC College of Medicine, is a professor of pathology and microbiology at UNMC. He also serves as chief strategist of the University of Nebraska system and as president of the University Technology Development Corporation. In 2014, he served as interim president of the University of Nebraska.

Since 2018 he has been CEO of Nebraska Medicine, UNMC's primary clinical partner. Dr. Linder has received multiple national honors, including a Distinguished Teaching Award from the UNMC College of Medicine and the Award for Excellence in Medical Publications from the American Medical Writers Association.

The James Linder, MD, Residency Director Distinguished Professorship/Chair was established in September 2011. Geoffery A. Talmon, MD, Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, held the honor from Nov. 1, 2013, to June 30, 2019.

David T. Purtilo, MD,  became chair of the UNMC Department of Pathology in 1981. During his tenure, the research capabilities of the department were expanded, and it attained worldwide recognition. His tenure also saw the merger of the department with the Department of Microbiology. It later became the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology.

Dr. Purtilo remained chair of the department until his death in 1992. On May 31, 1990, the David T. Purtilo Distinguished Chair of Pathology was created in his honor.

The Stokes-Shackleford Professorship was established in 1980 and is funded by a trust received by the University of Nebraska Foundation from the estate of Bertha Shackleford Stokes Little. The endowed professorship commemorates the lives and contributions in the field of medicine and surgery by two dedicated physicians who supported research and clinical efforts at UNMC: Arthur C. Stokes, MD, and James Madison Shackleford, MD.

The minimum duration of the professorship is five years. Recipients are selected by a committee consisting of the chancellor or other chief executive officer of the University of Nebraska; the president of the Board of Regents, University of Nebraska or other chief executive officer of the governing board; the president of the University of Nebraska Foundation; the dean of the College of Medicine and one member of the faculty of the College of Medicine, selected by the dean.

Dr. Stokes, the first husband of Bertha Little, was a native of Canada and graduated in 1899 from the Omaha Medical College, which later became UNMC. In September 1917, Dr. Stokes organized and headed Nebraska Base Hospital No. 49, a unit that served in France in World War I. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After his return from military duty, Dr. Stokes remained active in Red Cross programs. He was a member of the University of Nebraska’s Board of Regents and served as medical director of Guarantee Mutual Life Insurance Company and consulting surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. A professor of surgery at the College of Medicine, UNMC, Dr. Stokes helped raise the $100,000 for the first building erected on the new College of Medicine campus in 1911. In addition, he donated adjoining land next to the campus to the university.

Dr. Shackleford was the grandfather of Bertha Shackleford Stokes Little. He was a native of Kentucky, became a doctor in Ohio and moved with his family to Des Moines, Iowa, in the 1860s. 

Amelia was the wife of Dr. Austin Vickery Jr., who was a 1943 graduate of the Nebraska College of Medicine and became a world-renowned pathologist specializing in surgical pathology and thyroid pathology.

The Amelia F. and Austin L. Vickery Jr. Faculty Endowment for Pathology was established on April 13, 2005. Wing-Chung (John) Chan, MD, received this award in April 2011 and held the honor until June 2013. Timothy Greiner, MD, received this honor in July 2014 until his retirement in June 2023.

Established by Odeth E. Wall in 1981, this fund provides a professorship in the UNMC College of Medicine to an outstanding cancer researcher. This professorship is a testament to the commitment to advancing cancer research and treatment, ensuring that the University of Nebraska Medical Center remains at the forefront of medical innovation and excellence

Samuel Cohen, MD, PhD, received this award in combination with the Havlik professorship in November 1985 and held this honor until February 2024.

The Dr. James L. and Patricia A. Wisecarver Distinguished Professorship of Pathology and Microbiology was generously established in 1992 by Dr. Wisecarver and his wife. This professorship supports work in the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology, where Dr. Wisecarver served as director of the HLA lab, the department’s residency program and the forensics lab, as well as medical director of clinical laboratories at Nebraska Medicine, during a UNMC career that began in 1990.