Jeff Robbins named first Berenfield Family Endowed Chair
Jeff Robbins, PhD, executive co-director, Heart Institute, was recently appointed the inaugural Berenfield Family Endowed Chair of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology.
The creation of the endowed chair provides a critical and transformational boost for the Heart Institute’s future and vision – to be the leading academic program for family-centered pediatric cardiovascular care, research and education.
Len Berenfield, a long-time supporter of Cincinnati Children’s and the Heart Institute, was inspired to establish the chair as a result of his mother’s interest. In addition, his personal experience with family members born with heart complications showed him first-hand the impact of research and advancements in care.
The endowed chair serves as a beacon for the highest quality individuals and includes funding for their scientific research and “blue sky” program development. It also gives the recipient the fiscal flexibility to explore new pathways. The funds associated with the chair are designed to support innovative research that might not otherwise be funded.
Robbins, a specialist in cardiovascular biology, has devoted his career to studying the cause-and-effect relationships between mutations in proteins and their connection to heart disease. His pioneering work includes establishing the means to direct the heart to synthesize normal and mutant protein and turn them on and off at will.
For this he has won multiple prestigious honors, including the Louis and Artur Lucian Award for research in circulatory diseases and the American Heart Association’s Research Achievement Award. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the International Society for Heart Research and has served on many federal government study sections and committees of the National Institutes of Health.
Receiving the Berenfield Family Endowed Chair will ensure that Robbins’ current research and the research division he started in order to develop new therapeutic approaches to pediatric heart disease and its diagnosis will continue.
Says Robbins, “Our research is the ultimate engine driving improvements in clinical care. The chance to make a real difference through innovative research attracts the best and brightest heart clinicians to Cincinnati Children’s. The Berenfield Family Chair ensures that we can continue to recruit only the best and subsequently, through research, advance the practice of pediatric cardiovascular medicine."
