Fox Chase Cancer Center Endowed Chairs

Endowed Chairs Endowed Chairs Home G. Morris Dorrance Jr. Chair in Medical Oncology Gloria and Edmund M. Dunn Chair in Thoracic Surgical Oncology Marvin S. Greenberg, MD Chair in Pancreatic Cancer Surgery Gerald E. Hanks Chair in Radiation Oncology G. Willing "Wing" Pepper Chair in Cancer Research Stanley P. Reimann Chair in Oncology Research Jack Schulz Chair in Basic Science Timothy R. Talbot Jr. Chair in Cancer Research Carol and Kenneth Weg Chair in Human Genetics Robert C. Young MD Chair in Cancer Research Paul Grotzinger and Wilbur Raab Chair in Surgical Oncology Samuel M.V. Hamilton Chair in Prevention Alfred G. Knudson Jr. Chair in Basic Science Donald E. and Shirley C. Morel, Stanley and Stella Bayster Chair in Molecular Imaging Audrey Weg Schaus and Geoffrey Alan Weg Chair in Medical Science H.O. West and J.R. Wike Chair in Cancer Research William Wikoff Smith Chair in Cancer Research Chairholders J. Robert Beck, MD Jeff Boyd, PhD Jonathan Chernoff, MD, PhD Mary B. Daly, MD, PhD, FACP Paul F. Engstrom, MD Eric M. Horwitz, MD John P. Hoffman, MD, FACS Beatrice Mintz, PhD Walter J. Scott, MD, FACS Anna M. Skalka, PhD Joseph R. Testa, PhD Robert G. Uzzo, MD, FACS David S. Weinberg, MD, MSc

Jack Schulz Chair in Basic Science

Established in 2002 by the Board of Associates at Fox Chase Cancer Center, this chair honors pioneering geneticist Jack Schultz, PhD, and his contributions to basic science, cancer research, and the life and character of Fox Chase.  This chair was established to recognize and support an outstanding leader in the field of basic science who represents the highest standards of excellence.

Beatrice Mintz, PhD

After completing the Ph.D. degree at the University of Iowa in 1946, Beatrice Mintz went directly
to a teaching appointment at the University of Chicago. Her first opportunity for full-time independent research came in 1960, when she joined the Institute for Cancer Research / Fox Chase Cancer Center.

There she undertook a long-planned project: the experimental production of mice in which all tissues comprised two genetically different populations of cells. The experiment revealed that the complex individual originates from a few developmentally flexible “stem cells” in the early embryo that divide and
give rise to more differentiated stem cells, forming a branching “tree” of clones. Mintz then speculated that cancer might be an aberration of development, in which a stem cell proliferates excessively at the expense of orderly differentiation. In novel experiments with mouse teratocarcinomas, she learned that this was the case.

Mintz next found that the DNA of a specific gene could be injected into a fertilized egg and become incorporated into the genome. With this approach, she produced a mouse model of malignant melanoma — a virtually untreatable disease in humans. This model may ultimately enable successful treatments to be devised.

Dr. Mintz’s accomplishments have been recognized by election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973, and by many awards including the Genetics Society of America Medal (1981), the Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine (1990), the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology (1996), and the American Cancer Society National Medal of Honor for Basic Research (1997).

In 2002 the Fox Chase Cancer Center named her the first occupant of the Jack Schultz Chair in Basic Science.