School of Medicine

Wang named Loewentheil Distinguished Professor

Ting Wang, PhD, center, has been named the Sanford C. and Karen P. Loewentheil Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The Loewentheils, pictured with Wang, are providing support to help advance precision medicine. (Photo: Mark Beaven)

Ting Wang, PhD, whose work sits at the intersection of biology and computer science, has been named the inaugural Sanford C. and Karen P. Loewentheil Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Wang was installed by Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the George and Carol Bauer Dean of the School of Medicine, and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor.

The Loewentheils are longtime supporters of the university, funding several annual and endowed scholarships. Their endowment of this new professorship is intended to provide permanent support for a leading scientist focused on advancing personalized medicine. A Washington University alumnus and member of the university’s Board of Trustees, Sanford Loewentheil founded L&M Development Partners in 1984.

“We thank Sandy and Karen Loewentheil for their generous support of the School of Medicine’s precision medicine initiative,” Wrighton said. “The inaugural holder of this professorship, Ting Wang, is a leader in genetics and genomic sciences, including understanding the roles that DNA and the regulation of genes play in human health and disease. His work is at the leading edge of the kind of research required to develop treatments tailored to each patient.”

Wang, a professor of genetics and a researcher at the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology, plumbs the genetic code for new understandings of how genes and their “on-off” switches influence health and disease, with the goal of developing new treatments for many conditions.

Read more.