Former Dean Apppointed to SUNY Board of Trustees
Marshall A. Lichtman, M.D., professor and former dean of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, has been appointed to the State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees.
Lichtman, professor of Medicine and of Biochemistry and Biophysics, was nominated by Governor David A. Paterson and confirmed by the New York State Senate on May 20. The SUNY Board of Trustees comprises 17 members, all of whom serve in a voluntary capacity.
“I am honored to accept this appointment to the SUNY Board of Trustees,” said Lichtman, sixth dean of the Medical School and widely renowned researcher in the field of hematology. “Having spent most of my career in higher education, and being the only current trustee who is an academic physician, I will try to add that perspective to the SUNY leadership. Of the 64 universities or colleges for which the Board is responsible, four are medical centers. Many of the issues we’re facing in a time of limited resources and increasing demands will require extraordinary ingenuity and I welcome the opportunity to participate in the process.”
Commenting on Lichtman’s appointment, Board Chairman Carl T. Hayden said, “SUNY is very fortunate to have Dr. Lichtman as the newest member of the Board of Trustees. His wisdom and expertise in the field of medicine and health, is certain to serve the board well.”
SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher said. “One of our strategic promises is to build a healthier New York and Dr. Lichtman’s years of experience as a physician, a teacher and a researcher will be a great benefit to us as we work to reach that goal.”
Lichtman received his undergraduate degree in zoology from Cornell University and his medical degree from the University of Buffalo School of Medicine. After completing residency training at the University of Rochester Medical Center, he served two years in the U.S. Public Health Service.
He then returned to Rochester to accept a position as faculty member at the medical school, where, as a young researcher, he was named a scholar of the Leukemia Society of America and simultaneously awarded research support from the National Cancer Institute to pursue his research interests in the cellular biochemical abnormalities in leukemia.
Appointed senior associate dean for Academic Affairs and Research in 1980, Lichtman became dean of the medical school 10 years later, serving through December 1995. During that time, he served on the New York State Council of Graduate Medical Education.
After leaving the deanship, he became executive vice president for research and medical programs of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 1996, but retained his professorship at the University as well.
Lichtman is currently the editor-in-chief of the journal Blood Cells, Molecules, and Diseases. He has edited four textbooks of hematology, one of which is in its eighth edition, on the physiology, biochemistry, and clinical disorders of blood cells. He has served on the editorial boards of seven scientific journals and published more than 300 scientific articles, reviews and book chapters.
He is a member of several professional societies including the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, the American Physiological Society and the American Society of Cell Biology. He is also a Master of The American College of Physicians. Past president of the American Society of Hematology and past member of the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross, he has served on several national advisory groups, including the Hematology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health.
Lichtman, who replaces Randy Daniels as a trustee, will serve through June 2011.