The Carole Mendelson, Ph.D., Visiting Professorship

Each year, the Women in Science and Medicine Advisory Committee (WISMAC) selects and hosts an outstanding female scientist/physician to visit UT Southwestern Medical Center for a two-day professorship. The Visiting Professorship Honoring Women in Science and Medicine was established by the Southwestern Medical Foundation in honor of the late wife of Texas Instruments’ founder Cecil H. Green, who died in 2003. Mrs. Ida M. Green, who died in 1986, championed the cause of opening new career paths for women in science and provided a major bequest to Southwestern Medical Foundation. In 2023, WISMAC lost one of its founding members and Co-chair, Dr. Carole Mendelson. Dr. Mendelson was a Professor of Biochemistry and Obstetrics and Gynecology and a passionate advocate for the advancement of women in science. To honor her legacy, the Visiting Professorship was renamed the Carole Mendelson, PhD, Distinguished Visiting Professorship.

The Visiting Professorship promotes the accomplishments of women in science and medicine and provides inspiration to UT Southwestern's junior faculty and trainees. Our visiting professor meets with individuals and diverse groups on campus and presents a University Lecture.

2023–2024 Professorship

For the 2023-2024 academic year, the Carole Mendelson, PhD, Distinguished Visiting Professorship, Honoring Women in Science and Medicine will feature Catherine Bollard, M.D., MB.Ch.B., Director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at the Children’s National Research Institute, Director of the Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy and a member of the Division of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation. In addition, she is a Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine at the George Washington University and is the ACD for Translational Research and Innovation within the George Washington Cancer Center. In these roles, Dr. Bollard leads clinical and research efforts to fight cancer and other inflammatory diseases by strengthening the immune system using adoptive cell therapy.

She will give the lecture on April 3, 2024 from 4:00 p.m - 5:00 p.m. in the NB2.EFF Excellence in Education Auditorium, Harold C. Simmons Biomedical Research Building on North Campus.

Celebration of Women in Science and Medicine Poster Session

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of UT Southwestern and the 25th anniversary of WISMAC’s founding, WISMAC hosted its first poster session in conjunction with the 2018 Visiting Professorship. Graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, and junior faculty were encouraged to submit an abstract and present a poster. Over 100 abstracts were chosen to be presented after the Visiting Professorship University Lecture Series, and two were selected as the winners. Winners of the Poster Session were awarded $700 each to put toward their travels to scientific conferences. The Celebration of Women in Science and Medicine Poster Session has been such a success that the Committee has decided to make it its own event.

We are excited to announce that the Celebration of Women in Science and Medicine Poster Session will take place on March 7, 2024, in the D1 Lecture Hallways, across from the D1.700 Lecture Hall, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. $500 Travel Awards will be awarded to the top 6 posters. This year’s poster session will be preceded by the History of Women in Science and Medicine at UT Southwestern Lecture led by IF/THEN Ambassadors and WISMAC Members Julie Mirpuri, M.D. and Danielle Robertson, O.D., Ph.D. This lecture will take place in the D1.600 lecture hall from 4:00 p.m - 5:00 p.m.