UW News

May 29, 2008

Broudy and Elkon appointed to endowed professorships

Two faculty members in the Department of Medicine were recently appointed to endowed professorships. Dr. Virginia C. Broudy, professor and vice chair of medicine at the UW and chief of medicine at Harborview Medical Center, has been appointed the first holder of the Scripps Endowed Professorship in Hematology. The professorship was founded with a $500,000 gift from Christy and Ed Scripps in gratitude for care received at Harborview by Christy Scripps’ mother.


Broudy, a graduate of Harvard College, received her M.D. at the University of California, San Francisco, and completed residency and a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Oregon Health and Science University. She then came to UW as a senior hematology fellow and joined the faculty in 1987, becoming professor of medicine in 1998. She served as acting division head from 2002 to 2004. Broudy has published widely on hematopoiesis, myeloproliferative diseases, HIV, and other topics in hematology/oncology, as well as medical education.


She has served on a number of committees and task forces for the School of Medicine, the Department of Medicine, and Harborview and has held many leadership positions for the American Cancer Society, American Society of Hematology, Puget Sound Blood Center, and other organizations. She is currently secretary-treasurer and a councilor of the Western Association of Physicians. She is active in teaching students, residents, and fellows and attends at Harborview and the Madison Clinic. A fellow of the American College of Physicians, Broudy is listed among the Best Doctors in America and Seattle’s Top Doctors. She has received both the Paul B. Beeson Award for outstanding clinical teaching by a faculty member and the Outstanding Attending of the Year Award from the medical house staff.


Dr. Keith B. Elkon, professor of medicine and head of the Division of Rheumatology, has been appointed the first holder of the Mart Mannik, M.D.-Lucile T. Henderson Endowed Professorship in Rheumatology. The professorship honors Mannik, former head of the division, and is supported by a $3.2 million bequest from the estate of Lucile Evelyn Townsend Henderson of Seattle.


Following medical school at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, Elkon completed postgraduate training at Johannesburg General Hospital and at Guy’s Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital, London. He joined the faculty at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, becoming professor of medicine in 1993, and directing the graduate program in immunology and the rheumatology research program during his time there. He came to UW as division head in 2001. Elkon is also an adjunct professor of immunology.


Elkon leads an active research program investigating mechanisms of autoimmune disease and the role of apoptosis, or cell death, in tolerance and autoimmunity. He currently holds funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Lupus Research Institute, the Dana Foundation, and the Alliance for Lupus Researach. He has published more than 170 research papers, reviews, and editorials in his field. He was a speaker at a symposium for the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prizes.


Elkon teaches and mentors students, residents, and fellows in medicine, as well as graduate students in immunology, and directs the rheumatology fellowship training program. He has served on boards and committees for the Lupus Research Institute, Alliance for Lupus Research, SLE Foundation, NIH, and others, and he consults for several international funding agencies. He directed the NIH-sponsored Specialized Center of Research in SLE from 1994 to 1998.