A big congratulations goes out to Dr. Baserga! Dr. Susan J. Baserga has been newly appointed the William H. Fleming, MD ‘57 Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Dr. Baserga is a leader in the field of ribosome biogensis and the pathogenesis of ribosomopathies (congential dieseases associated with defects in ribosome biogenesis). Dr. Baserga graduated from Yale College in 1980, and then stayed at Yale to earn her MD/PhD in Human Genetics in 1988. She then joined the laboratory of Dr. Joan Steitz for her postdoctoral training and where her interests in ribosome biogenesis began through her study of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), including the U3 snoRNA that is essential for processing the pre-ribosomal RNA. In 1993, Dr. Baserga started her independent laboratory as an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine and in 2007 was promoted to full Professor in the Departments of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Genetics, and Therapeutic Radiology.
William H. Fleming, MD was also a former Yale College graduate (Class of 1957). He attended medical school at Columbia University Medical School and completed his residency in general surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. During his career, he has served in the U.S. Army and was the Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Atlanta. In 1976, he moved his practice to Nebraska where he retired from surgery in 2003.
The William H. Fleming, MD ‘57 professorship was established at Yale in 2009 to help the university maintain the highest standard of excellence in the biological sciences. Former appointees of the William H. Fleming, MD ‘57 professorship include Dr. Nancy A. Moran, William H. Fleming, MD ‘57 Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Dr. Christine Jacobs-Wagner, William H. Fleming, MD ‘57 Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.