Current Recipients

Make a Difference

Case Western Reserve's Board of Trustees has delegated to the university faculty, through elected leadership, certain powers and responsibilities concerning educational, research and scholarly activities.

Daniel Flannery, PhD

Daniel Flannery Headshot

Throughout his career, Case Western Reserve University professor Daniel Flannery has focused on finding new ways of addressing some of society’s most pressing social problems. 

A prolific scholar, the Semi J. and Ruth W. Begun Professor at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences is considered one of the country’s foremost experts on youth violence prevention and has published on a diverse range of topics—including youth juvenile justice, community policing, opioid addiction and many others.

Read more about Daniel Flannery.


Elina Gertsman, PhD

Elina Gertsman Headshot

Elina Gertsman’s interest in medieval art history may have developed, as she says, “simply by osmosis.”

Growing up in Tallinn, Estonia, Gertsman was constantly surrounded by what she calls a “preternatural” beauty of this medieval town. As an art student she painted on its streets; when she was a kid, her grandfather would buy her ice cream from a cafe perched on a hill near a 13th-century church.

That church, in fact, would become pivotal to her career: it was home to Bernt Notke’s danse macabre painting, which, decades later, became a subject of Gertsman’s first book, The Dance of Death in the Middle Ages.

Read more about Elina Gertsman.


Fabio Cominelli, MD, PhD

Fabio Cominelli Headshot

Fabio Cominelli’s contributions to groundbreaking research on gastrointestinal conditions, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, has helped alleviate pain and complications for tens of millions of people worldwide living with these disorders.

At Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, the internationally recognized gastroenterologist, physician and clinical scientist is also known for being an inspiring professor and dedicated mentor.

Now, Cominelli will be known by another title: Distinguished University Professor, the highest honor the university bestows on a member of its faculty.

Read more about Fabio Cominelli.