Alumni Impact

In January, post-grad alumna Marlana Orloff, MD RES’12, FEL’15, associate professor of medicine, was named the Alexander and Johnston Family Endowed Clinical Director of Uveal Melanoma. The Alexander and Johnston families endowed the position to express their gratitude for the compassionate care they’ve received at Jefferson over the years. Orloff’s research focus is on primary and advanced melanomas and investigating the epidemiology of rare melanoma subtypes.

In February, Keith L. Leaphart, DO, MBA, was named the Humana Chief Health Equity and Community Impact Officer. The position was created as part of a transformational $15 million gift from Humana Inc. to advance health equity and population health initiatives. Leaphart also serves as an executive vice president for the Jefferson enterprise and oversees the Jefferson Collaborative for Health Equity, which fosters partnerships to reduce health disparities.

In April, Dana Scott, associate professor, was named the William A. Finn ’67 Director of the Design, Engineering, and Commerce Core Curriculum. An alumnus of the textile engineering program at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science and past trustee, Bill Finn ’67, made history with this gift in establishing the first donor-endowed position on Jefferson’s East Falls campus. Scott, an internationally recognized multidisciplinary artist, also serves as director of assessment of Student Learning Outcomes.

In May, Abdolmohamad Rostami, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Neurology, was named the Nicholas J. Maiale Distinguished Professor of Neurology. Maiale, an acclaimed, accomplished attorney, has led a diverse and successful career in Pennsylvania. Rostami’s research interest is on the immunopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis and finding better therapies for this disease.

In April, Tsao-Wei Liang, MD, division chief of Movement Disorders, was named the William C. Rowland Jr. Professor of Neurology. The late William Clift (“Bill”) Rowland Jr., an entrepreneur and avid outdoorsman, endowed the position with the goal of advancing scientific breakthroughs that would one day lead to a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Liang also serves as medical director of the Jefferson Comprehensive Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center.