History

Robert L. Volle, Ph.D., first to lead the Pharmacology Department, and later became associate medical school dean, and first Charles N. Loeser, M.D. award recipient for teaching excellence.

Martha Lepow, M.D., as associate professor started the Department of Pediatrics and taught from 1967 to 1978. A pioneer in children’s health care, she is nationally recognized as one of the leading infectious disease specialists in the country for cystic fibrosis, pediatric and adolescent HIV care.

Irwin H. Lepow, M.D., Ph.D., husband of Dr. Martha Lepow, first head of Pathology and became chair of the Department of Medicine. Since 1986 the annual Lepow award is given to the outstanding fourth-year student in the Biomedical Science Ph.D. Program.

William Fleeson, M.D., was a professor of psychiatry who later served as associate dean of medical student affairs.

Robert U. Massey, M.D., was associate dean for Graduate Medical Education and later dean of UConn School of Medicine.

James E. C. Walker, M.D., served as professor of medicine and head of Clinical Medicine and Healthcare, which later became the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care.

Charles N. Loeser, M.D., a professor in the Anatomy Department, was one of the most popular and respected first faculty. The Loeser Award annually honors a faculty member who evokes in students an enthusiasm for learning, a desire to emulate their own attributes of scholarly curiosity, and who gives wholeheartedly to advance the welfare and education of their students.

Eugene M. Sigman, M.D., a professor of medicine and associate dean of medical education, also served as dean of the medical school.

Carl “Fritz” Hinz, M.D., served as professor of medicine and associate dean of Medical Education.

John W. Patterson, M.D., Ph.D., served as professor of physiology, dean of the School of Medicine, and the first executive director and vice president for health affairs of the newly named UConn Health Center.

Martha Lepow, M.D., also depicted in the mural, started to grow the initial roots of UConn’s Department of Pediatrics, which she founded after beginning to care for pediatric outpatients at the still active Burgdorf Clinic in Hartford. Her meningococcal meningitis research helped contribute to vaccine development to fight this deadly disease.

Naomi F. Rothfield, M.D., professor of medicine who retired in 2016, is an internationally renowned rheumatologist who led UConn’s Division of Rheumatic Diseases, training dozens of the world’s leading rheumatologists. She specialized in lupus, scleroderma, and Raynaud disease.

Mary Jane Osborn, Ph.D., professor and former leader of microbiology in the Department of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, is nationally recognized for her biochemistry research, including mechanisms of bacterial cell division.

Audrey M. Worrell, M.D., practicing psychiatrist for 40 years and professor of psychiatry until 1987 at UConn. Her husband Richard V. Worrell, M.D., was the frst chair of the Department of Orthopedics.

“I want to congratulate each and every of you newly minted physicians and scholars for making it through these most challenging times – and together – with your fellow classmates, faculty, staff and families,” said Dr. Bruce T. Liang, dean of the School of Medicine in his Commencement address. “No matter what — you never gave up. Not even an once-in-a-lifetime pandemic could stop your momentum – nor prevent you from reaching your ultimate goal of standing here before us and your loved ones today to receive your advanced degree.”