Thomas A. Mustoe Honored with Endowed Professorship

Thomas A. Mustoe Honored with Endowed Professorship

Nathaniel J. Soper, MD, Loyal and Edith Davis Professor and chair, Department of Surgery, congratulates Thomas A. Mustoe, MD, Orion H. and Lucille W. Stuteville Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, upon being honored with his endowed professorship.

An investiture was held to celebrate the naming of Thomas A. Mustoe, MD, as the Orion H. and Lucille W. Stuteville Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Mustoe joined Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine as professor and chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery in 1991.

The evening celebration, held at the Four Seasons Chicago, was well attended by Division and Department of Surgery colleagues, as well as many family members and friends. Led by emcee Nathaniel J. Soper, MD, Loyal and Edith Davis Professor and chair, Department of Surgery, the ceremony included a formal extolment by Professor Gregory A. Dumanian, MD, Mustoe’s associate in the Department of Surgery.

After describing Mustoe’s circuitous path to becoming a plastic surgeon, lauding him for his impressive academic history, and sharing some insight into the groundbreaking research that has been conducted under his guise, Dumanian described his colleague as more than just a coworker, but a “friend, protector from above, and source of my professional happiness.”

Mustoe was extremely gracious in his acceptance, espousing that “Northwestern has been a wonderful place to grow and develop.” He also took time to mention those mentors who had thoroughly touched his life, and the important role his family has played in his success.

Endowed professorships, one of the highest honors a university can bestow upon a faculty member, empower recipients to seek answers to provocative research questions and to better understand diseases to improve patient care.

TODD Kuiken, MD, PhD, Janice Feinberg, Steven Rosen, MD, and Lewis Landsberg, MD, celebrate at a reception preceding the Mustoe Investiture.

Mustoe earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, where he continued his medical training as a research fellow in the laboratory of Bernard Fields, MD, working on the genetics of reovirus, and was awarded the Somas Weiss award for his work in 1978. He completed his internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, residencies in surgery and plastic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a third residency in otolaryngology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. As the Orion H. and Lucille W. Stuteville Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Mustoe will continue his research on mechanisms for impaired healing that result in chronic wounds and excessive healing that result in fibrosis and scarring.

The Orion H. and Lucille W. Stuteville Professorship of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery was established in 2009 through generous annuity and estate gifts from Lucille W. Stuteville. A former resident of Evanston, Illinois, Mrs. Stuteville was a registered nurse. The professorship was created in memory of her husband Orion (D’31, D’33, and MD’39). A graduate of the Northwestern University Dental School and Medical School, Dr. Stuteville was awarded the Alumni Medal in 1984. He was professor emeritus and former chair of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department at the Dental School, and also served as director of the residency program in plastic surgery at Northwestern University.