Lingrel, Broderick Honored for Years of Leadership

The CARE/Crawley Building’s Kaplan Reception Hall was the scene of a celebration Friday afternoon, Jan. 31, as the College of Medicine honored Jerry Lingrel, PhD, and Joseph Broderick, MD, for their many years of successful leadership as department chairs.

The two men recently stepped down as interim chair of the department of cancer biology and chair of the department of neurology and rehabilitation medicine, respectively. In addition, Lingrel served for over 25 years as chair of the department of molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology.

"The work that these two have done adds up to about 80 years, although neither one of them looks old enough,” joked Thomas Boat, MD, dean of the College of Medicine and UC vice president for health affairs, as he began the event. 

Lingrel joined the UC faculty in 1962; Broderick came aboard in 1987. Both men have previously been honored with the Daniel Drake Medal, the highest recognition the College of Medicine can bestow on its former students, former faculty, former residents or current faculty.   

"Both of them are prolific scientists and staunch believers in our mission,” said Boat, who presented them with keepsake awards saluting their years of service as department chairs.

Broderick and Lingrel were introduced to the attendees by their successors: Brett Kissela, MD, Albert Barnes Voorheis Chair of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, and Jun-Lin Guan, PhD, Francis Brunning Chair of Cancer Biology.

Kissela recalled his long association with Broderick and referred to him as a "quadruple threat,” adding mentorship to the traditional College of Medicine missions of education, research and clinical care.

Broderick, a UC College of Medicine graduate (1982) and department chair since 2000, saluted the past and looked to the future in his remarks, noting that he will remain as active as ever in his new role as director of the UC Neuroscience Institute and principal investigator of the national coordinating center for the National Institutes of Health’s new clinical trials network for stroke, NIH StrokeNet.

Guan said that while he was a newcomer to the UC faculty, he was already familiar with Lingrel through research-related communications over the years (many on weekends) and added, "I speak from the heart when I say how good this place is because of him.”

Lingrel, who will continue his research as a professor in the molecular genetics department, had the attendees laughing with his anecdotes, but he closed on an inspiring note: "If you’ve got it, you can make it here.”