Three Women Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to Endowed Chairs

Beth Karlan is the inaugural holder of the Nancy Marks Endowed Chair in Women’s Health Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and the department’s vice chair of women’s health research. Dr. Karlan is recognized as one of the nation’s foremost authorities on ovarian cancer.

Dr. Karlan joined the UCLA faculty in 2019. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a medical doctorate from Harvard University.

LaQuandra S. Nesbitt was named the Bicentennial Endowed Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. Dr. Nesbitt joined the faculty in November 2022 as the senior associate dean for population health sciences and health equity and executive director of the Center for Population Health Sciences and Health Equity.

Dr. Nesbitt received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Michigan and a medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. She later earned a master of public health degree in health care management and policy from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Susannah J. Ural is the inaugural holder of the Frank and Virginia Williams Endowed Chair of Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Studies at Mississippi State University. She was the Charles W. Moorman Distinguished Alumni Professor of Humanities and the General Buford “Bub” Blount Professor in Military History at the Dale Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Dr. Ural holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Vermont. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from Kansas State University.