Harman/Yang Investiture Ceremony

Investiture Ceremony
Awarding
PEIXIN YANG, PhD
The Christopher R. Harman, MD Professorship in
Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
Westminster Hall • Baltimore, Maryland
Tuesday, April 30, 2024

PEIXIN YANG, PhD
Peixin Yang, PhD joined the University of
Maryland School of Medicine in 2006 as a tenure
-track assistant professor. He is currently a
tenured professor, Director of the Center for
Birth Defects Research and Vice Chair for
Research at the Departments of Obstetrics &
Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. Dr.
Yang was an NIH K12 scholar in the program of
Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in
Women's Health (BIRCWH) and an awardee of
the F. Clarke Fraser New Investigator Award of
the Teratology Society. Dr. Yang has developed
an extensive research program in diabetic embryopathy: pregestational diabetesinduced
neural tube defects (NTDs) and congenital heart defects (CHDs). His
research using genetically modified mice reveals the role of kinase signaling,
autophagy, endoplasmic reticulum/unfolded protein response, senescence,
ferroptosis, DNA/RNA methylation, and microRNA in diabetes-induced NTDs
and CHDs. Dr. Yang also investigates the infectious etiology using SARS-CoV-
2 as a model, examines insulin receptor signaling impairment in brain insulin
resistance, and studies neuron senescence in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s
disease. Collaborating with clinician scientists, Dr. Yang aims to determine the
cause of the high incidence of maternal morbidity and mortality in the US by
studying the effect of maternal obesity on placental function. He leads a group of
translational and clinical scientists to establish the Maryland Maternal Health
Research Center of Excellence, focusing on the adverse effects elicited by
obesity, placental accreta spectrum and opioid use disorder. Dr. Yang’s research
has been continuously funded by federal agencies and the American Diabetes
Association for almost two decades. He has published more than 120 peerreviewed
papers and awarded five patents. Dr. Yang has mentored more than 75
postdoctoral fellows, students, clinical fellows, and junior faculty. He also leads
a large group of multidisciplinary researchers in testing preventive measures for
maternal diabetes-induced structural birth defects and Alzheimer’s disease.

WELCOME
Heather S. Culp, JD
Senior Vice President
Chief Philanthropy Officer
Senior Associate Dean
University of Maryland Medicine
Irina Burd, MD, PhD
The Sylvan Frieman, MD Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and
Reproductive Sciences
Chair, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
REMARKS
Mark T. Gladwin, MD
Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore
John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean
DONOR RECOGNITION
Mark T. Gladwin, MD
REMARKS
Astri and Barrett Kollme
Donors
SPEAKERS
E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA
Former Dean and University Executive Vice President
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Endowed Professor and Director, Center for Advanced Research Training and
Innovation (CARTI)
Senior Scientist, Center for Birth Defects Research
Christopher R. Harman. MD
Adjunct Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences
Former Chair, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences
MEDAL PRESENTATION
Mark T. Gladwin, MD
REMARKS
Peixin Yang, PhD
Christopher R. Harman, MD Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and
Reproductive Sciences
CLOSING REMARKS
Irina Burd, MD, PhD

The Tradition of
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS
T
he first endowed professorships were established more than
500 years ago with the creation of the Lady Margaret chairs
in divinity at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The
original endowed chairs were sponsored by Lady Margaret,
countess of Richmond, and grandmother of Henry VIII in 1502.
Subsequently, private individuals began making financial contributions
to establish other endowed professorships and chairs such as the
Lucasian Chair of Mathematics, which Sir Isaac Newton held beginning
in 1669. Professor Stephen Hawking, the internationally renowned
physicist and recipient of the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom, was
another prominent holder of this endowed chair.
The honor associated with appointment to an endowed position has
remained unchanged for the last 500 years and is recognized as one of
the highest tributes that an academic institution can bestow upon its
most distinguished faculty. These endowed professorships and chairs
continue to reward exceptional scholars uninterrupted to the present
time.
The Office of Development is charged with securing private gifts to
ensure the School’s tradition of excellence is sustained through robust
research, clinical, and educational programs and initiatives. The
University of Maryland School of Medicine is fortunate to have nearly
85 endowed chairs & professorships in various stages of completion
and held by esteemed faculty members.

CHRISTOPHER R. HARMAN, MD
Dr. Christopher Harman, an internationally
recognized physician-scientist, joined UMSOM’s
OB-GYN Department in 1997 as Co-Director of
its Center for Advanced Fetal Care. In 2010, he
was named the department’s Interim Chair, and
then Permanent Chair from 2012 to 2022. Under
Dr. Harman’s leadership as Chair, the
Department advanced significantly in research,
clinical care, and education, and is
internationally known for its work in fetal
medicine and biology, and fetal therapy. Services
launched during his chairmanship include the
Fetal Heart Center, a major referral center for the
region and part of the Center for Advanced Fetal
Care at the University of Maryland Medical
Center, and the Complex OB Surgery Program, which provides intensive care
for women with dangerously abnormal placentas, referred from many high-risk
services across the mid-Atlantic.
Under Dr. Harman’s tenure, the Department also opened an expanded, state-ofthe-art
Labor & Delivery Suite in 2018, located in the University of Maryland
Medical Center (UMMC). The new Suite is three times the size of the previous
space — close to 30,000 square feet of additional space and from 17 to 25
delivery rooms — to accommodate an expected 35 percent increase in
deliveries by 2024.
As a widely recognized authority in fetal medicine for decades, Dr. Harman
began his 40-year medical career after receiving his MD from the University of
Manitoba (Canada) in 1976, where he also completed his residency training in
Obstetrics & Gynecology and his Fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
He was a member of the original team that developed Biophysical Profile
Scoring (BPS), an internationally recognized assessment system now used
around the world to describe fetal behavior in health and disease. He also led
the team that performed the first ultrasound-guided intravascular fetal
transfusions in North America, and among the first ultrasound-guided fetal
shunts for lower urinary tract obstruction. As a founding member of the North
American Fetal Therapy Network (NAFTNet), Dr. Harman served as Chairman
of the Scientific Steering Committee and Chairman of the Executive Committee
and contributed to numerous NAFTNet studies and publications.