Duluth Clinic Chair in Molecular Medicine
Dr. Edward Perkins

One of the goals of the Medical School-Duluth is to translate research into medical cures.

As a result of a generous gift of $1.2 million in 2002 from SMDC Health System (SMDC), the Medical School-Duluth, the Minnesota Medical Foundation and SMDC established the Duluth Clinic Chair in Molecular Medicine.   The endowment was important to recruiting an outstanding faculty member and nationally renowned expert in molecular medicine – someone with the research expertise and potential to have an economic impact on Duluth and Northeastern Minnesota.   The chair further enhances the educational and biomedical research partnership between SMDC and the Medical School-Duluth. 

The SMDC endowment supports the work of 
Dr. Edward Perkins,  a biochemist who specializes in
gene therapy.  Discoveries from research like his could
lead to the development of drugs that target genes and
proteins responsible for cancerous tumors.