Pasche Named to May Endowed Chair

Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., director of the division of hematology and oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been named the Martha Ann and David L. May Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved the appointment.

October 9, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., director of the division of hematology and oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been named the Martha Ann and David L. May Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved the appointment.

Pasche is an internationally recognized expert on the genetics of cancer and associate director of translational research at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Dr. Pasche fits the role perfectly because this endowment was designed to support research that will lead to a better understanding of the causes of cancer, and explore new treatments," said Cancer Center Director Edward Partridge, M.D. "I can think of no higher honor to support this researcher with this particular endowment."

Pasche came to UAB this year from Northwestern University in Chicago where he was director of the cancer genetics program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and Feinberg School of Medicine. He serves on the National Cancer Institute's cancer genetics study section.

Pasche earned medical degrees from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and a Ph.D. from the Karolinska Institute. After a fellowship at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, he completed an internship, medical residency and a fellowship at The New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the New York Hospital, Cornell University Medical College respectively.

Pasche is contributing editor at Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and editor at The Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

The endowed chair is named for Martha Ann May Klaus in honor of her late husband, David L. May. He was a patient at UAB's Cancer Center and received treatment for prostate cancer before his death in 1995. The namesake family members are noted business and community leaders in Vicksburg, Miss.