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Pharmacology endowment established in honor of longtime WVU faculty member

Dr. William Fleming and Dolores Fleming

Dr. William Fleming and Dolores Fleming. 

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A longtime, much beloved professor and supporter of West Virginia University is being honored with a newly established endowment.

The William W. Fleming Pharmacology Award has been established to honor William W. Fleming, PhD, former chair of the Department of Pharmacology, who passed away in April 2015.

Established by Fleming’s family members, the $30,000 award will provide $1,000 each year to a graduate student within the current Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience in the WVU School of Medicine.

The particular student will have performed at an exceptional level in pharmacology-based research. The criteria also includes having produced a first-authored, peer-reviewed pharmacology-centered publication accepted in a well-regarded journal, as well as having presented research on an internal, regional, national or international level. 

The student will be chosen by a department faculty member and be approved by the chair and department itself.

“Our father was completely dedicated to West Virginia University during his almost 40 years there,” said David Fleming, Jennifer Hitchcock and Lisa Foster, Fleming’s children and creators of the endowment. “He was most passionate about both the research and the teaching that was done in the Department of Pharmacology during his long tenure at WVU. We believe that this scholarship fits with exactly his vision of promoting learning and research, and he would be proud to have his name associated with a scholarship that honors the best students doing research within Pharmacology at WVU.”

Fleming joined the School of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology in 1960 and served as an assistant professor and co-director of a National Institutes of Health Graduate Training Grant.

Six years later, Fleming was named professor and chair of the department, and remained in that position until 1999, followed by his retirement.

During his time here, Fleming had worked to establish a well-recognized pharmacology program and department, leaving lasting impact on the Health Sciences Center at WVU.  

“His work made this University internationally known for excellence in pharmacology, and many of his former students have become leaders in academia and industry,” said Clay Marsh, M.D., WVU health sciences vice president and executive dean.

Fleming’s wife, Dolores, was also cherished within the WVU Health Sciences Center, having written “Generation of Growth: A Contemporary View of the West Virginia University School of Medicine.”

This gift was made in conjunction with A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University, which continues through December 2017.

To make a gift to the WVU School of Medicine, please contact Patricia Lonsbary, director of development, at 304.293.1448 or patricia.lonsbary@hsc.wvu.edu; or Clare Flanagan, assistant vice president for health sciences development, at 304.293.0788 or cmflanagan@hsc. wvu.edu.

-WVU-

hd/8/28/17

CONTACT: Hannah d’Entremont, WVU Health Sciences Center Office of Philanthropy
304.293.1735; hgdentremont@hsc.wvu.edu

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