Ward E. Bullock Endowed Chair

During his 45-year career, Dr. Ward Bullock worked in nearly every academic capacity, including serving on the faculties at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and the universities of Rochester and Kentucky, and as dean of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

At UC, Dr. Bullock served as Director of the Infectious Diseases Division and as the Arthur Russell Morgan Professor of Medicine (1980–94); associate chair for research (1988–89, 1993–94); senior associate dean of the College of Medicine (1989–91); and adjunct professor of molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology (1980–94).

In 2001, after serving as professor and dean of medicine at Connecticut, Dr. Bullock returned to UC to lead the college's reaccreditation process and continue his clinical and teaching work in infectious diseases.

"I have a deep love for UC that dates back to when my father was a professor of mechanical engineering here," Dr. Bullock said. "I've had many opportunities in my professional career, but feel that I owe UC a great deal for providing me with stimulus and inspiration for the work I was able to accomplish. The support I have received from the College of Medicine and my colleagues has been truly outstanding."

Dr. Bullock cared deeply about the Division of Infectious Diseases and understood the need for it to have an endowed chair. He understood the benefits that a chair would bring to the Division, including a higher profile for its research initiatives.

In 2011, the University Of Cincinnati College of Medicine acknowledged the sustained contributions of Dr. Bullock and his wife, Charlotte Brooks by establishing The Ward E. Bullock, MD Endowed Chair of Infectious Diseases.

The first and current holder of The Ward E. Bullock, MD Endowed Chair of Infectious Diseases is Dr. George Smulian. Dr. Smulian is a Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases. He has been a faculty member in the Department of Internal Medicine since 1991. He completed his medical training at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by an internal medicine residency at Hillbrow and Johannesburg Hospital in South Africa. He came to UC in 1988 where he completed his clinical and research fellowship in infectious diseases and then joined the UC faculty as well as staff of the Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He was appointed as VA chief of the infectious disease section in 2000. He received the Mark Woolcott Award for Excellence in Clinical Care Delivery from the Veterans Health Administration in 2006 and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award in 2016. In addition to his clinical activities and clinical research, he maintains an active externally funded research program in pathogenic fungi and was the recipient of a Burrough Wellcome Fund New Investigator in Molecular Pathogenic Mycology award in 1999. He has well over 75 publications and has mentored over two dozen trainees and faculty.

"After being instrumental in recruiting me to Cincinnati to complete my fellowship, Ward served as of my mentor in the early years of my career. His balance between clinical excellence and his research endeavors was inspirational and a driving force in my development. I am honored to continue to carry forward the tradition of physician scientists."

The Ward E. Bullock, MD Endowed Chair of Infectious Diseases was established to provide support for research and education within the division in the field of medical mycology according to the ideals and values established by Dr. Bullock during his tenure as Division Director. The funding provided through the endowment has maintained the prominence of the division in the forefront of mycology through Dr. Smulian's research in Histoplasma capsulatum and has also allowed the division to support an additional year of training for fellows pursuing academic research careers. The division is honored to be fulfilling the goals of Dr. Bullock by promoting divisional growth and stability in our research programs in a manner that would not be possible without this generous funding.

Recent relevant publications:

Laskowski-Peak MC, Calvo AM, Rohrssen J, George Smulian A. VEA1 is required for cleistothecial formation and virulence in Histoplasma capsulatum. Fungal Genet Biol. 2012;49:838-46.

A. George Smulian, Diana M. Moore, Jaime C. Robertson and Stephen M. Kralovic. Phase I study demonstrates safety and tolerability of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of the anal mucosa HIV Clinical Trials. 2014; 15:36-44. PMID:24525427.

Hiett J, Patel RK, Tate V, Smulian G, Kelly A. Using active methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus surveillance nasal swabs to predict clinical respiratory culture results. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2015;72 (11Suppl 1):S20-4. PubMed PMID: 25991589.

Juwen C DuBois, Rajamouli Pasula, Jessica E. Dade, A. George Smulian. Yeast Transcriptome and In Vivo Hypoxia Detection Reveals Histoplasma capsulatum Response to Low Oxygen Tension. Medical Mycology. 2016; 54(1): 40-58. PMID: 26483436

Juwen C. DuBois, A. George Smulian. Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein (Srb1) is required for Hypoxic Adaptation and Virulence in the dimorphic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. PLoS One. 2016 Oct 6;11(10):e0163849

Dade J, DuBois JC, Pasula R, Donnell AM, Caruso JA, Smulian AG, Deepe GS Jr. HcZrt2, a zinc responsive gene, is indispensable for the survival of Histoplasma capsulatum in vivo. Med Mycol. 2016 Nov 1;54(8):865-75

Grant and clinical trial support since assuming chair: $1.55 mil
Doctoral Graduate students: 2
Post doctoral students: 1
ID Fellows and ID Junior faculty mentored: 4