12/16/2019
New Chair Named for Department of Inflammation & Immunity
Thaddeus (Thad) Stappenbeck, MD, PhD, joins Lerner Research Institute as the newly appointed Chair of the Department of Inflammation & Immunity. A digestive disease expert, he will lead a department of more than 50 principal investigators studying the origins and manifestations of a range of diseases, including infectious, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases like asthma and transplant rejection.
Dr. Stappenbeck is a practicing pathologist and an internationally recognized leader in the study of epithelial stem cells in inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer. His research program will encompass these areas in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic’s Digestive Disease & Surgery Institute and Tomsich Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Institute.
Dr. Stappenbeck was recruited to Cleveland Clinic from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he was the Conan Professor of Pathology and Immunology and co-chief of the Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine. He earned a combined MD/PhD degree at Northwestern University and completed a residency and fellowship in pathology at Washington University.
He is an elected member of several honorary societies, including the Association of American Physicians and American Society for Clinical Investigation. In 2016 he received the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s award for scientific achievement in basic science in inflammatory bowel disease, and has been invited to present dozens of major professorships and lectureships.
In addition to his high-caliber research, Dr. Stappenbeck is dedicated to service, teaching, and mentorship.
