The Wayne State University School of Medicine is pleased to announce that the Department of Emergency Medicine has established its third endowment, the Brooks F. Bock, M.D., Endowed Professorship. Robert J. Zalenski, M.D., professor of emergency medicine, will be the first person to hold it.

Named for Dr. Bock, the first chair of the department who also is a major donor, the endowment will support the department's clinical research activities.

"Dr. Bock has been a prominent and influential leader in organized academic emergency medicine not only within Wayne State University , but also at the state and national levels," said Padraic J. Sweeny, M.D., interim chair of emergency medicine. "It is very appropriate that his accomplishments be honored by naming this endowment after him."

Dr. Zalenski is well known for his work in the area of diagnostic evaluation and therapeutic intervention of acute chest pain of possible ischemic origin. His work in this area has had significance to change medical practice.

He has now evolved his focus from therapeutic intervention alone to include the appropriate use of the resuscitation therapies. In this regard, he has been instrumental in the development of the Center to Advance Palliative Care which is an interdisciplinary initiative to provide choices to our chronically ill and dying patients.

His personal passion for transforming end-of-life and palliative care has fueled a unique synergy among members of the interdisciplinary team and has stimulated all to look beyond common constraints of time and money to see what is possible in improving quality of life for the seriously ill.

"Dr. Zalenski is certainly well chosen to hold the Brooks F. Bock, M.D. Endowed Professorship," Dr. Sweeny said.

Previously the department established the Munuswamy Dayanandan, M.D., Endowed Chair and the Edward S. Thomas, M.D., Endowed Professorship to support the chairman and the department's basic science research, respectively.