In the spring of 2011, the School of Public Health and Health Professions hosted its inaugural Glen E. Gresham Visiting Professor in Rehabilitation Science, a position endowed by the late Albert C. Rekate, a veteran UB medical school faculty member, and his wife, Linda.
Glen E. Gresham, professor emeritus of rehabilitation medicine, requested that the visiting professorship be dedicated to Rekate, who was known as a generous benefactor of the health sciences at UB. Rekate died in February 2010 at age 93.
The professorship began in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, but was halted once the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine was dissolved. The School of Public Health and Health Professions felt it was a natural fit for the school.
The Glen E. Gresham Visiting Professor in Rehabilitation Science features a nationally or internationally recognized authority in an area directly related to rehabilitation science. “It really is a tremendous showcase for rehabilitation science and for the school,” says Dale Fish, SPHHP associate professor and associate dean for academic and student affairs.
Gresham, the visiting professorship’s namesake, served UB for more than two decades. He chaired the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Erie County Medical Center. Before settling in Buffalo, he was director of outpatient and continuing services at Tufts-New England Rehabilitation Institute in Boston. He has also been a faculty member of the Yale University and Ohio State University medical schools and formerly directed the arthritis clinic and coronary prevention program at University Hospital in Columbus. Among many noteworthy accomplishments, Gresham was part of the Framingham Heart Study.