(From left): Dr. Thomas Calcaterra; Ellen Calcaterra; Drs. Maie St. John and Kelsey C. Martin, and Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health, CEO of the UCLA Hospital System and associate vice chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences. Photo: Jessie Cowan
Dr. Thomas Calcaterra, UCLA professor emeritus of head and neck surgery, and his wife Ellen Calcaterra, an alumna of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, have established the Thomas C. Calcaterra, M.D., Chair in Head and Neck Surgery in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. On April 9, 2019, UCLA friends, donors, faculty members and family gathered at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills to celebrate the Calcaterra family’s gift and the appointment of Dr. Maie St. John (RES ’05)
as inaugural holder of the Calcaterra Chair.
Dr. Kelsey C. Martin, dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Gerald S. Levey, M.D., Endowed Chair, spoke about the Calcaterras’ generosity. “Tom and Ellen’s connections to UCLA run deep, and they wanted to secure a strong future for UCLA Head and Neck Surgery,” Dr. Martin said. “We could not be more pleased to have the chair named in Tom’s honor, which will inspire its holder now, and for generations to come.”
A renowned surgeon, scientist and educator, Dr. St. John is chair of the UCLA Department of Head and Neck Surgery. Her research focuses on how tumors progress and metastasize in head and neck cancers and the identification of genes and pathways for future targeted therapies.
This important philanthropic commitment from Mrs. Calcaterra and Dr. Calcaterra, who, during his tenure at UCLA, trained more than 175 surgeons, will help support Dr. St. John’s educational and research efforts.
For more information, contact Gretchen McGarry at: 310-794-4746
