New Endowed Lectures in Physiology & Biophysics, Microbiology & Immunology Will Bring Experts to BGE Students
Guest speakers are an important component of Georgetown University’s biomedical graduate programs, exposing students to new perspectives informed by experience in the field. Biomedical Graduate Education students will soon have access to two new lectures, thanks to gifts from a physiology alumnus and an emeritus professor of microbiology.
The Dr. James Smirniotopoulos Endowed Lectureship will begin on October 26, 2026, with a focus on “rad-path,” the radiology-pathology correlation – the clinical technique of synthesizing the results of body scans and tissue or blood samples. The inaugural speaker is Smirniotopoulos, a professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, former Georgetown professor, and longtime editor of the National Library of Medicine’s MedPix database.
Special Master’s Program (SMP) in Physiology & Biophysics alumnus John Lipman (G’81, M’85), a board-certified interventional radiologist who is the founder and medical director of the Atlanta Fibroid Center, endowed the lectureship after sitting on an SMP alumni panel. Lipman had attended Smirniotopoulos’ rad-path lectures as a medical student, and wanted to honor the training he received.
“My hope is that these lectures will inspire students to think beyond memorizing facts and instead develop the ability to integrate clinical information, pathology, and imaging into a cohesive understanding of disease,” Lipman said. “I believe exposure to exceptional physician-educators can have a lasting impact on career choices and the way students approach patient care.”
SMP Director Jennifer Whitney said the lecture series should appeal to Special Master’s Program students as well as other students interested in a clinical career.
“They should attend if they want to get excited about their futures as clinicians, especially if they are interested in [rad-path],” Whitney said.
Yasuyuki Sasaguri with his wife Kumiko. Photo courtesy of
Radhakrishnan Padmanabhan
A separate lecture series is being arranged within the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Emeritus Professor Radhakrishnan Padmanabhan is endowing the lecture series in memory of his collaborator the late Dr. Yasuyuki Sasaguri, who encouraged his Japanese medical trainees to build their basic science skills by working with Padmanabhan’s lab at the University of Kansas and later at Georgetown.
Microbiology & Immunology Chair John Casey said the Sasaguri lectures will become part of the department’s weekly seminar series.
“The Sasaguri lecture will substantially elevate the Microbiology & Immunology graduate experience at Georgetown,” Casey said. “Current plans are to include students in the process of nominating and selecting trailblazing national and international scientists who are pushing the boundaries of research on infectious diseases and host defenses. … Our goal is that this endowed lecture will inspire our trainees to pursue ambitious research careers and become the next generation of leaders in the fields of microbiology and immunology.”