Two faculty members appointed to endowed professorships

Mark Berry and Aaron Gitler have been appointed to endowed professorships.

Mark Berry

Mark Berry, MD, professor of cardiothoracic surgery, was appointed the Mylavarapu Rogers Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery. He specializes in treating thoracic surgical conditions with minimally invasive techniques, such as video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and laparoscopic, robotic, endoscopic and bronchoscopic approaches. His clinical research focuses on the use of these techniques and on evaluating outcomes after treatment of thoracic malignancies.

The professorship was established with a gift from Swati Mylavarapu and Matt Rogers to support a faculty member in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Mylavarapu was a partner at Kleiner Perkins and Rogers co-founded the smart-home company Nest in 2010. In 2017, the couple founded Incite.org, a multipronged organization that includes an investment firm to support mission-driven enterprises and a nonprofit to advance education and science. 

Aaron Gitler

Aaron Gitler, PhD, professor of genetics, was appointed the Basic Science Professor. His research focuses on protein-misfolding disorders and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Lou Gehrig’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. By understanding the mechanisms driving  protein-misfolding, he aims to identify strategies for therapeutic intervention.

The professorship was established with a gift from an anonymous donor to support a faculty member in the basic sciences in the School of Medicine. 

About Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu.

2023 ISSUE 3

Exploring ways AI is applied to health care