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.
Hillel Chiel
When Hillel Chiel was about 10 years old, he took apart a mechanical clock that wasn’t working. Looking at the pieces scattered around, he realized his mother would not be happy with the mess, so he put them back together—and the clock functioned! The experience sparked a lifelong enthusiasm for learning how things operate.
A professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology —with secondary appointments in the departments of neuroscience and biomedical engineering—Chiel is now being recognized as a 2024 Distinguished University Professor, Case Western Reserve’s highest designation for faculty.
Chiel’s impact is most felt through his extensive collaborative interdisciplinary research. His work is widely recognized for helping scholars understand the mechanisms of adaptive behavior through the use of computational modeling and experimental approaches to the research.
Mitch Drumm
Internationally recognized for his pioneering research on cystic fibrosis (CF)—a rare genetic disorder that primarily affects the lungs—Mitch Drumm has played a seminal role over the past nearly 40 years in discovering and defining key aspects of the origin and management of the disease.
Now, Drumm—the Connie and Jim Brown Professor in Cystic Fibrosis Research at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine—has earned another title: Distinguished University Professor.
Early in his career, Drumm was co-discoverer of the gene that causes cystic fibrosis (CFTR) while working on his doctorate under Francis Collins, later the longest-serving director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The work is credited as a major motivator for the initiation of the Human Genome Project.
Jonathan S. Stamler
Throughout his nearly four-decade career, groundbreaking physician-scientist and researcher Jonathan Stamler has searched for solutions to complex medical problems, advanced understanding of human health and improved patients’ lives through a range of discoveries, devices and new treatments.
In recognition of his accomplishments and enduring impact, Stamler—the Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Innovation at the School of Medicine and president of the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals Health System—will be honored as a Distinguished University Professor at Case Western Reserve University.
Among Stamler’s discoveries is protein S-nitrosylation—a biochemical process that can regulate cell signaling pathways, protein functions, gene expression and enzyme activity. Dysregulation of protein S-nitrosylation has been implicated in many diseases, such as cardiovascular disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation and cancer.
Read more about Jonathan S. Stamler.