New Endowed Chair

Eckardt

We always like to take note of donations to UCLA that don't require brick and mortar construction, but instead support students, research, teaching, and faculty:

A new endowed chair at UCLA will honor the memory of Dr. Jeffrey Eckardt, a longtime faculty member who pioneered limb salvage surgery.

The chair is funded by gifts totaling more than $1 million from 42 foundations, families and individuals, including many who were Eckardt’s friends and former colleagues. The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA received lead gifts from Maxine and Eugene Rosenfeld, the Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation, Jean-Marc Chapus, and Christine and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy.

The medical school named Dr. Nicholas Bernthal the inaugural Jeffrey J. Eckardt, M.D., Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Eckardt, who died November 13, 2020, was a world-renowned orthopaedic oncologist who retired to emeritus status in 2019. After joining UCLA as a medical resident in 1975 and then becoming a faculty member in 1980, he eventually went on to serve as distinguished professor of orthopaedic surgery and chair of the department of orthopaedic surgery. In 2001, he was named UCLA’s Helga and Walter Oppenheimer Professor of Orthopaedic Oncology.

The limb salvage surgery developed by Eckardt replaced amputation for people with bone cancer. He also designed and subsequently improved oncologic implants, and trained hundreds of surgeons in how to treat bone tumors and care for patients. Under his leadership, UCLA’s orthopaedic surgery department pushed the field forward by opening dozens of clinical trials to study less-toxic agents in sarcoma care; added gait analysis studies to understand and improve function after surgeries; and developed an “avatar” program of precision medicine to try to understand each patient’s individual tumor. 

“Dr. Eckardt was in awe of the support he received as fundraising for this chair began, and he frequently expressed how honored and moved he was,” said Dr. Francis Hornicek, the former chair of UCLA’s department of orthopaedic surgery. “We are proud to partner with these generous philanthropists who made a commitment to honor the work of Dr. Eckardt. His humanity, morality, and work ethic will be memorialized in the Eckardt Chair, which will serve as an enduring testament to his accomplishments and service.”

Bernthal, who was also recently appointed interim chair of the orthopaedic surgery department, shared a close relationship with Eckardt. After graduating from Princeton University in 2002 and earning his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College in 2006, Bernthal completed his residency at UCLA in orthopedic surgery, followed by fellowships in orthopedic research and musculoskeletal oncology at UCLA and the Huntsman Cancer Institute...

Full release at https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/eckardt-endowed-chair-nicholas-bernthal.