Photo above: Dr. Timothy Kamp (shown at left, talking with graduate student Jabe Best in this 2010 file photo) has been appointed to an endowed chair named in honor of Dr. Herman and Ailene Tuchman. Dr. Kamp is the fourth faculty member to hold the enowed position. Image courtesy UW Communications/Jeff Miller.

Timothy Kamp, MD, PhD, professor, Cardiovascular Medicine, has been named to the Dr. Herman and Ailene Tuchman Chair in Clinical Cardiology. An endowment supporting the position provides funding for Dr. Kamp’s research and scholarly work.

Dr. Kamp’s research has focused on understanding basic mechanisms of heart arrhythmias and on cardiovascular applications of stem cell biology. An expert in stem cells, Dr. Kamp co-directs the UW Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center. Studies in his laboratory have been key for understanding and optimizing how human pluripotent stem cells can differentiate into human cardiomyocytes in a cell culture dish. Last fall, Dr. Kamp and colleagues were awarded $8.6 M in funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop and test bioengineered “heart patches” with combinations of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells in a large animal model. The project is considered to address the remaining challenges before such an approach could move forward in human clinical trials to to repair damaged hearts.

Now, Dr. Kamp’s ground-breaking work will also be supported by the endowed professorship established by Herman Tuchman, MD and his wife Ailene. Dr. Tuchman was an alumnus of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and a well-known internist and cardiologist. He died on December 31, 2014 at age 87. Ailene had passed away a little more than a year previously, in August, 2013.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dr. Tuchman earned his undergraduate degree at UW-Madison after he had completed his service in the US Navy in 1945-46. After completing his medical degree, he conducted his internship training at Los Angeles County Hospital in 1952 and returned to UW Hospital and Clinics for residency training with William Middleton, MD, and Ovid Meyer, MD, followed by a U.S. Public Health Service Fellowship in cardiology with Charles Crumpton, MD, and George Rowe, MD.

Dr. Tuchman engaged in private practice in his hometown for nearly five decades until 2002. He served as chief of medicine and cardiology at St. Michael Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which which closed in 2006. After retiring from private practice in his mid‑70s, Tuchman volunteered as a cardiology consultant for nearly 10 years at Aurora Walker’s Point Community Clinic.

“Dr. Tuchman—or Diney, as he liked to be called—was a loyal alumnus to the UW. After a successful career as a cardiologist in Milwaukee, he chose to generously repay our school by endowing the chair in cardiology that bears his name,” said Richard Page, MD, the George R. and Elaine Love Professor and chair, Department of Medicine.

Resources:

• “Stem cell ‘heart patch’ moves closer to clinic,” UW-Madison, September 21, 2016