Sato and Shields to receive endowed professorships
Yutaka Sato, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Radiology and director of the department’s Division of Pediatric Radiology, and Richard Shields, PT, PhD, professor, chair, and departmental executive officer of the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, received endowed professorships on Friday, Nov. 22.
Yutaka Sato, MD, PhD, FACR, to the E. A. Franken Jr. Professorship in Pediatric Radiology
Sato is a professor in the Department of Radiology and director of the department’s Division of Pediatric Radiology. He also is a member of the Division of Neuroradiology. Sato joined the department in 1986 and became director of the pediatric radiology division in 1993. In addition to his clinical expertise, Sato has authored numerous book chapters and more than 150 research publications.
He has served on many national and international committees, including the Radiology Society of North America, the Asian and Oceanic Society for Pediatric Radiology, and the Japanese Radiology Society. He is a well-respected lecturer, with more than 70 national and international visiting professorships.
Sato also has received several teaching awards, including the Jack O. Haller Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Society for Pediatric Radiology in 2018.
Richard Shields, PT, PhD, FAPTA, to the Gary L. Soderberg Professorship in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science
Shields is professor, chair, and departmental executive officer of the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science. Shields managed the acute spinal cord injury program at UI Hospitals & Clinics for a several years. During this time, he developed several lines of research that focused on the impact of exercise on various tissues and systems, including muscle, bone, metabolism, and cognitive health.
He holds medical device patents from inventions he designed to log and deliver therapeutic stress to tissues of people with paralysis. Shields’ clinical research strives to improve the health of people experiencing reduced activity from paralysis, obesity, injury, or age. He has received continuous funding the National Institutes of Health for the past 20 years, and he has published more than 120 scientific papers and delivered over 200 invited scientific presentations.
His awards include the 48th Mary McMillan Lecture Award in 2017 from the American Physical Therapy Association.
About the professorships
The Edmund A. (Tony) Franken, Jr. Professorship in Pediatric Radiology was established by Franken and his wife, Penelope. Franken is a 1961 graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. After completing an internship in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and subsequent service in the U.S. Public Health Service Division of Indian Health, he completed his radiology residency at Indiana University Medical Center. Franken then served as a faculty member at the Indiana University College of Medicine and was the director of radiology at James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children from 1967–1979. Franken served as a professor and the chair of the Department of Radiology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine from 1979–1994. He then continued his duties in radiology and the college for several years as the risk management and compliance officer. He also served two terms as interim chair of the radiology department. On a national level, he served as editor of Academic Radiology and president of the Society for Pediatric Radiology.
The Gary L. Soderberg Professorship in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science was established by Soderberg and his wife, Loretta Knutson. Soderberg was recruited to the University of Iowa in 1972 to advance its newly established PhD degree program in physical therapy, which was one of the first in the country. He served as the department’s director from 1984–1992 and currently serves as an emeritus professor. During his time at Iowa, Soderberg oversaw the department’s transformation into a nationally recognized leader in physical therapy and rehabilitation research. Through his own scholarship and mentoring, he paved the way for the next generation of physical therapy scientists. As a distinguished leader in the physical therapy profession, Soderberg received many national awards. The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) recognized his leadership in education and research with its most prestigious awards: Golden Pen Award (1984), Lucy Blair Service Award (1987), Worthingham Fellow Award (1987), Williams Research Award (1988), and the McMillan Lecture Award (1993). In 2012, Soderberg and Knutson received the Spirit of Philanthropy Award from the Foundation for Physical Therapy.