Sandler
Sandler honored with Pendergrass Chair
The Carol D. and Henry P. Pendergrass Chair in Radiology and Radiological Sciences was recently bestowed upon Dr. Martin P. Sandler, professor and chair of department.
The honor was created by the Pendergrass family in 1992 to pay tribute to the achievements of emeritus professor and former vice chairman of the radiology department, Dr. Henry P. Pendergrass and his late wife Carole.
“To hold an endowed chair in the name of the Pendergrass family is a great honor,” said Sandler. “Both Dr. Harry Pendergrass and his late father Dr. Eugene Pendergrass have made landmark contributions to the field of radiology. To have a continued relationship with the Pendergrass family through the endowed chair is great recognition for both VUMC and the Department of Radiology.
Sandler is the second faculty member to hold the title; Dr. C. Leon Partain, professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, was the first.
“Dr. Partain has made significant research and clinical contributions to the field of radiological sciences during his 23 year tenure at Vanderbilt. After serving as the first Pendergrass Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, he graciously proposed that the professorship be awarded to Dr. Martin Sandler, the current chairman of the department,” said Steven G. Gabbe, dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
“This is a well deserved and significant honor for Dr. Sandler, who in serving just a few short years as chair has established himself as one of the academic leaders in radiology.”
Sandler began his Vanderbilt career as a postdoctoral fellow in the Divisions of Endocrinology and Metabolism in 1980, and became a member of the faculty in 1983. During his tenure at Vanderbilt, he has served as Director of Clinical Nuclear Medicine, Director of the Radiological Sciences Research Laboratory, among other roles, before he was named Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences chairman in 2000. He has also been recognized as one of America’s Top Doctors.
Among his professional accomplishments, Sandler has authored eight textbooks, 86-peer reviewed manuscripts and 41 scientific abstracts. He has served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine since 1998.
Pendergrass and his late father, Eugene P. Pendergrass, are well known in the field of radiological research. Henry Pendergrass began his long career at Vanderbilt in 1976, where he held a wide variety of clinical and academic assignments.
Pendergrass was the founding trustee of the RSNA Research and Education Fund, which grants fellowship to promising researchers. He now lives in Brymar, Pa.