January 28, 2009 - For Immediate Release

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LOYOLA NAMES FIRST RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES® ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP

Dr. Charles Hemenway distinguished for work on childhood leukemia

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Dr. Charles Hemenway has been named the first Ronald McDonald House Charities® Endowed Professor in Pediatric Hematology Oncology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

"Endowed professorships are reserved for only the most distinguished faculty who have demonstrated excellence in teaching, research and service," said Dr. Jack Lee, dean of Stritch. "As a physician and researcher who is internationally renowned for his work on childhood leukemia, Dr. Hemenway is among those educational gems who are richly deserving of this honor."

McDonald House Charities® provided the financial support for the endowed professorship of Hemenway, who is also professor of pediatrics, division of pediatric hematology/oncology, Stritch School of Medicine. The professorship sets the stage for the expansion of subspecialties in Loyola's department of pediatrics. Currently, Stritch School of Medicine has 23 endowed professorships.

"I am deeply honored to be the first holder of the Ronald McDonald House Charities® Endowed Professor in Pediatric Hematology Oncology,” said Hemenway, after his investiture ceremony that took place in Stritch’s Tobin Hall. "It's hard to overemphasize how important this endowed professorship is to the growth of a high-quality, multi-faceted program in pediatric hematology/oncology here at Loyola. Not only can we provide more for the children we treat, strong programs benefit the entire medical center and the community we serve."

During the investiture ceremony, Hemenway was joined by faculty from the Stritch department of pediatrics, Loyola's Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center and by senior executives from the McDonald's Corporation and Ronald McDonald House Charities, which also provided funds to help establish the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center and the Loyola Center for Children's Health at Oakbrook Terrace in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.

Presiding over Hemenway's investiture were Lee, Michael Quinlan, chair of the Loyola University Chicago Board of Trustees, member of the LUHS Board of Directors and former director of the McDonald's Corporation; Fr. Lawrence Reuter, S.J., associate vice president of LUHS Mission & Ministry, and Dr. Paul Whelton, MB, MSc, president and CEO, Loyola University Health System.

"Dr. Hemenway is very deserving of this prestigious honor given his vital contributions to research on the causes and treatment of childhood leukemia," Whelton said. "He is a superb clinician, nationally recognized researcher and a skilled educator who is strongly committed to the mission and future of Loyola as a world class health sciences center."

A research hematologist, Hemenway focuses on finding new treatments for mixed-lineage leukemia, a type of leukemia diagnosed in infants under a year old. He earned his medical degree in 1987 from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Mass. He completed a combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., after which he began fellowship training in pediatric hematology/oncology at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., where in 1996 he received a doctorate in genetics.

Hemenway came to Loyola from Tulane University in New Orleans, where he had spent 11 years as a researcher.

"Tulane was my first job and I thought I'd be there forever," said Hemenway, who lives in Oak Park with wife, Betsy, a history professor at Loyola University Chicago, and their twin 16-year-old sons. "But when I learned of Loyola's strong reputation for research, that's when I decided that it was the best place for me to continue my work."

Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola University Health System is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and 25 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 561-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-bed community hospital, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center.