Wayne State University School of Medicine Professor and Chair of Physiology Jian-Ping Jin, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D., has been appointed the William D. Traitel Endowed Chair of the department.
Established by the WSU Board of Governors in December 2014, the position is named for William D. Traitel, who owned Traitel Realty Inc. in Detroit.
"I take this great honor as trust and encouragement from the physiology faculty, the School of Medicine and the university, which have been critical to my success," said Dr. Jin, a leading researcher in the field of muscle contractility and cell motility studies.
Dr. Jin has published more than 140 research articles in international journals, and serves as editor-in-chief for the journal Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. He is a member of the National Institutes of Health's Cardiac Contractility, Hypertrophy and Failure Study Section, and the principal investigator of two NIH R01 grants and an NIH R01 Supplement.
He also serves as principal investigator for a highly competitive NIH T32 training grant, the only pre-doctoral cardiovascular training T32 in the state of Michigan. The program covered tuition, stipends and travel expenses to science meetings for two doctoral students in 2014, and four doctoral students in the years 2015 through 2018 involved in cardiovascular research at WSU.
Some of Dr. Jin's discoveries have led to translational applications in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction, the treatment of heart failure and the treatment of cancer metastasis. That research has resulted in the four United States. patents that he holds.
The endowed chair position provides additional research funding.
"This resource will significantly facilitate and strengthen research and development in the Department of Physiology and my laboratory, along with the strategic theme emphasis of the School of Medicine and Wayne State University," he said.
According to research conducted by James Rillema, Ph.D., professor of Physiology, the award was formerly known as the William D. Traitel Endowed Chair in Hematology, and was previously awarded to Dr. Walter H. Seegers, who chaired the Department of Physiology until his retirement in 1979.
Traitel, a lifelong bachelor who died in October 1961, owned Traitel Realty Inc. in Detroit. Upon his death, he bequeathed a significant portion of his estate, as well as several buildings, to WSU. The Law School has an endowed scholarship in his name, as does the School of Medicine.
Traitel had one cousin in the Detroit area, William H. Traitel, who died in 2009. Dr. Richard B. Traitel, the son of William H. Traitel, lives in the Detroit area. He received his doctoral degree in psychology from WSU in 1968. He owns Comprehensive Psychological Services, located in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.