Maria Geisinger has been named the inaugural Kent and Phoebe Palcanis Endowed Professor in Periodontology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry. Dr. Geisginer first joined the UAB faculty in 2007 as an adjunct assistant professor and earned the rank of full professor in 2019. She has served in several leadership roles, including director of the predoctoral periodontal program, director of periodontal clinical research, director of the advanced education program in periodontology, and chair of the department of periodontology.
Dr. Geisinger holds a master’s degree in dental clinical sciences and a doctor of dental surgery degree from Columbia University.
Indira U. Mysorekar has joined Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine faculty as the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Medicine. She will also serve as the college’s vice dean for research, basic science, and graduate studies and a professor of medicine and of cell and biological systems. Dr. Mysorekar most recently served as the E.L. Wagner Endowed Professor of Medicine, chief of basic and translation research in the section of infectious diseases, and professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Her research has advanced the understanding of host-pathogen interactions at mucosal surfaces, particularly in infectious diseases, women’s health, the maternal-fetal interface, and the aging urogenital tract.
Dr. Mysorekar earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the University of Lund in Sweden. She holds a Ph.D. from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.
Triparna Sen was named to the Max Morehouse Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at Ohio State University. A full professor of internal medicine, Dr. Sen serves as director of the lung cancer pre-clinical therapeutics program at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and associate dean of the division of medical oncology. Her research focuses on understanding and therapeutically targeting mechanisms of therapy resistance and lineage plasticity in lung cancer.
Dr. Sen received her bachelor’s degree in physiology and her master’s degree in genetics from the University of Calcutta in India. She holds a Ph.D. in cancer biology from Jadavpur University in India.
Jennifer Lemke was named the inaugural holder of the Lozier Endowed Presidential Chair in Literacy at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Dr. Lemke has been a faculty member with the university since 2013. In addition to teaching, she serves as director of the Nebraska Early Literacy Workshop, a program that provides K-3 teachers with professional development in the science of reading.
Dr. Lemke received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.


