Faculty Profile

Biography

Richard Chegwidden is Director of the Problem-Based Learning Pathway of the D.O. Program, Director of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. A graduate of the University of London, England, where he also received his Ph.D. from Guy’s Hospital Medical School, Dr. Chegwidden has been awarded a Gunsen Exhibition for his research and has also been elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The author of more than 70 research publications in medical enzymology, gene technology, development of cancer drugs, and more recently, medical education, he edited a major research volume in his field (The Carbonic Anhydrases: New Horizons.  Pub: Birkhauser Verlag) and, for a decade, was Managing Editor of the research journal, Gene Families and Isozymes Bulletin. He has, by-election, organized and chaired four international research conferences, acted as session chair at 18 conferences and lectured on his research by invitation on more than 40 occasions in 16 different countries.  At various times he has also been appointed to advisory committees for international research congresses in the USA, Sweden, Germany, and China. In 1991 he was a Royal Society visiting delegate to Russia and the Georgian Republic. The recipient, over the years, of research funding from many different sources, Dr. Chegwidden has reviewed grant applications for a number of such agencies and regularly refereed research papers for many different research journals. Dr. Chegwidden previously held a research fellowship at Guy’s Hospital Medical School in London, and faculty positions in the University of London and Sheffield Hallam University in the U.K. For the fifteen years preceding his immigration to the USA, he enjoyed visiting research privileges at The University of Michigan Medical School. He also established and administered transatlantic student exchanges. Dr. Chegwidden brought to LECOM extensive experience in initiating, planning, and directing educational programs, curriculum development, and accreditation.  Since his arrival at LECOM he has, on different occasions, been elected Outstanding Professor of the Year and System Coordinator of the Year, and been awarded the John and Silvia Ferretti Award for Distinguished Teaching. He has also appeared in television programs on cloning and gene therapy. He is currently a member of the AOA Registry of Evaluators of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.