This is an archived UW-P news item,
originally posted: 2/1/2007.
Dr. Richard L. Eckert, '75
Graduated: 1975
Job: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department Chair
Company: University of Maryland School of Medicine
Dr. Richard L. Eckert was appointed to lead the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department in October 2006. He is a native of Burlington, Wis., and is the son of Rosella and the late Donald Eckert.
After graduating from UW-Parkside, Dr. Eckert earned his master of science and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana. He completed post-doctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Harvard Medical School. He served as a professor of physiology/biophysics, dermatology, reproductive biology, oncology and biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Eckert's research focuses on understanding how normal surface epithelial cells function to protect people from illnesses and how those cells are altered during disease states, including skin cancer. He is currently principal investigator on four major grants from the National Institutes of Health and has been supported by the Department of the Navy, the American Cancer Society, the Dermatology Foundation, the American Institute for Cancer Research and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program Breast Cancer Research Program.
