by Erin Lucero and Liz Torrey

On October 15, 2026, 77 faculty members from across the university were honored at the 2026 VCU Investiture Celebration Dinner. The honorees – the university’s newest appointees to endowed professorship and chair positions – included eleven Pauley Heart Center faculty who were formally invested and presented with medallions during the celebration.

The positions are made possible by donors who generously endowed funds that exist in perpetuity to sustain the medical school’s missions of research, patient care and education. The endowments carry the names of outstanding alumni, faculty and friends who have led and benefited from the school’s work.

"The endowed professorship really helps show the value for such specialized care," said cardiologist Sangeeta Shah, MD, director of Pauley's Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program, who was appointed to the Harrigan Family Cardiology Professorship. "It gives a sense of pride. It helps retain faculty. But what I really hope that it helps us do is increase awareness — not only for other providers but for patients to realize they have a place to be taken care of."

Through Unlocking Potential: VCU's Campaign for the Future, philanthropic investment continues to grow. Today, 189 endowed professorships and chairs support faculty members who advance the mission of VCU Health, the School of Medicine, and the Pauley Heart Center.

“Endowed professorships are a cornerstone of academic excellence, allowing the School of Medicine to recruit and retain distinguished faculty whose work advances our research and clinical missions,” said Stephen L. Kates, M.D., interim dean of the VCU School of Medicine, who holds the James W. and Frances G. McGlothin Chair of Orthopaedics. “We are profoundly grateful for the extraordinary generosity and vision of the donors who partner with us to enhance our capacity to tackle complex diseases and foster healthier communities.”

This year’s honorees commented that the funds help them to translate discoveries into potential therapeutic approaches, create more opportunities for students to get involved in research, build a statewide learning system for primary care and directly accelerate breakthroughs that would otherwise remain out of reach.

The 2026 honorees include eleven faculty who are affiliated with Pauley, either through cardiovascular clinical care, or interdisciplinary cardiovascular research (or both):

• Dr. Ashley Cowart, John D. Bower, M.D., Endowed Chair of Cellular, Molecular and Genetic Medicine
• Dr. Shaimaa Fadl, Charles L. Baird Jr., M.D., Professorship in Cardiovascular Imaging
• Dr. Mary Helen Hackney, Commonwealth Endowed Professorship in Breast Cancer Excellence
• Dr. Brian Kogon, David Witt Endowed Chair in Pediatric Congenital Heart Surgery
• Dr. Jordana Kron, Harrigan Family Professorship in Inflammatory Diseases of Heart and Vascular
• Dr. Jessica LaRose, Theresa A. Thomas Memorial Foundation Chair in Cancer Prevention and Control
• Dr. Kim McKnight, Anna Lou and Bob Schaberg Chair of Practice (School of Education)
• Dr. Patricia Nicolato, Thomas Rutherfoord Brown Family Professorship
• Dr. Sangeeta Shah, Harrigan Family Cardiology Professorship
• Dr. Christopher Snyder, Louise Robertson, M.D., Professorship in Pediatric Cardiology
• Dr. Huzaefah Syed, Elam C. Toone Jr. Distinguished Professorship in Rheumatology and Arthritis

Watch a video about the power of endowed professorships and chairs across VCU here.

View photos from the 2026 Investiture dinner here.