J. Charles Jennette, MD, will step down from his position as Kenneth M. Brinkhous Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in June of 2019. He will enter the three year phased retirement program the following July.
J. Charles Jennette, MD, will step down from his position as Kenneth M. Brinkhous Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in June of 2019. He will enter the three year phased retirement program the following July.
J. Charles Jennette, MD, will step down from his position as Kenneth M. Brinkhous Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in June of 2019. He will enter the three year phased retirement program the following July.
Jennette received his MD from UNC in 1973 followed by a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology, also at UNC. He then completed a research fellowship in immunopathology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, CA, before returning to Chapel Hill and joining the UNC School of Medicine faculty in 1978. He has remained at Carolina ever since. He became Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in 1999.
“We are grateful to Dr. Jennette for his tremendous contributions to the UNC School of Medicine,” said Wesley Burks, MD, Executive Dean of the UNC School of Medicine. “Charles’ leadership over the last 19 years has helped propel the department into national recognition and excellence in our academic and clinical missions.”
Throughout his career, Jennette’s teaching and research has focused on kidney disease. With Dr. Fred Dalldorf, he established the UNC Nephropathology Laboratory, which evaluates approximately 2,000 renal biopsy specimens per year from throughout the southeastern USA. He is co-founder and Co-Director (with Dr. Ronald J. Falk, MD, Chair of Medicine) of the Glomerular Disease Collaborative Network, which coordinates kidney disease research by approximately 300 nephrologists throughout the Southeastern United States, and is Associate Director of the UNC Kidney Center, which is an interdisciplinary consortium with the mission of improving all aspects of kidney disease prevention and treatment. Dr. Jennette‘s national leadership positons include President of the Association of Pathology Chairs and President of the Renal Pathology Society.
In his 2015 Norma Berryhill Lecture, Jennette reflected on his decades-long collaboration with Falk, a partnership that has earned each of them considerable academic acclaim.
“My advice to all new faculty is to identify valuable collaborators, especially those who are experts in complementary disciplines,” Jennette said.
Under Jennette’s leadership, the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine achieved a high national profile in clinical service, research and teaching. As Chair of the Department, Jennette oversees the Department’s unique mission as UNC’s only department that provides training to residents and clinical fellows, and also has a PhD graduate program in Pathobiology and Translational Science. The Department works in partnership with UNC Hospitals McLendon Clinical Laboratories to provide state of the art pathology and laboratory medicine services to UNC Health Care patients. Under his leadership, the Department is a national leader in the application of genomic and proteomic methods for personalized patient care using precision companion testing in oncology, hematopathology, clinical microbiology, clinical immunology, and histocompatibility testing.
Jennette is “excited about the opportunity to become more productive in clinical service, research and scholarship” after he steps down as Chair.