Three Women Who Have Been Appointed to Endowed Professorships

Patricia Diaz, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the School of Dental Medicine at the University at Buffalo and director of the university’s Microbiome Center, has been appointed to the Sunstar Robert J. Genco Endowed Chair. Professor Diaz joined the faculty in 2020 from the University of Connecticut, where she served as associate professor of oral health and diagnostic sciences.

Dr. Diaz earned her dental medicine degree at Universidad CES in Medellín, Columbia. She also holds a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. from the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Mary McCourt is the inaugural holder of the Michael J., ‘60 and Aimee Rusinko Kakos Endowed Chair of Chemistry at Niagara University in New York. Dr. McCourt joined Niagara’s chemistry, biochemistry, and physics department in 1999. Her areas of research include the development of CholestosomeTM technology and urine-based biomarker analysis for diagnostic screens focused on breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. She holds 14 patents.

Professor McCourt holds bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and history, a master’s degree in history, and a Ph.D. in chemistry, all from the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York System.

Laly Joseph was named to the Dr. Keith R. Berend ’92 Endowed Chair in Nursing in the Ann Blanton Edwards School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. Dr. Lacy comes to Florida Southern after serving as interim dean and professor at the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing in New York City.

Dr. Joseph earned a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the Bombay Veterinary College in Mumba. She was a practicing veterinarian before making a career change to the nursing field. She then earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master’s degree in nursing, and a doctor of nursing practice degree, all from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.