Honoring Legacy and LeadershipThe Investiture of Nathaniel J. Soper, MD, as the Loyal and Edith Davis Professor of Surgery  | Former chairs, Dr. Richard Bell (l) and Dr. David Nahrwold (r) pose with current chair and honoree, Dr. Nathaniel Soper. |
Four surgical leaders gathered on October 24 to invest Nathaniel J. Soper, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery, as the Loyal and Edith Davis Professor of Surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Soper was joined by David Nahrwold, MD, professor emeritus and former chair, James Yao, MD, PhD, professor emeritus and former interim chair, and Richard Bell, Jr., MD, adjunct professor, former chair, and extoller of Dr. Soper at his investiture. The ceremony was led by J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, the Lewis Landsberg Dean of the Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Jameson began the evening by describing endowed professorships as the most important form of recognition for professors, with roots at Cambridge University where the first endowed professor was Sir Isaac Newton. An honor with such illustrious roots was appropriate for Dr. Soper, according to his mentor and extoller, Dr. Richard Bell. Describing Dr. Soper as a top expert in laparoscopic surgery and a devoted gastrointestinal researcher, Dr. Bell said, “His integrity, helpfulness, and fairness—they are all personal qualities that have led to his [Dr. Soper’s] success.”  | Dr. Soper with Dr. James Yao, former interim chair |
Dr. Soper joined Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in December 2003 as professor of surgery. He was awarded the James R. Hines Professorship in July 2004 and became chief of the Division of Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Surgery in September 2005. He was appointed interim chair of the Department of Surgery in July 2006, and one year later was named chair of the Department and surgeon-in-chief at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Dr. Soper graduated from the University of Iowa School of Medicine in 1980. With a renowned pediatric surgeon as a father and role model, Dr. Soper “swore he’d never be a surgeon,” yet after completing his residency in General Surgery at the University of Utah Hospitals, he joined the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, following in his father’s footsteps on a path he felt he was least likely to take.  | Dr. Soper and Dean Jameson |
Acknowledging the honor conferred to him, Dr. Soper remarked, “I’m proud and honored to be up here today, poised at the beginning of a great new adventure.” The Loyal and Edith Davis Professor of Surgery was established in 1981 in honor of Loyal Davis, MD, MS, PhD, and Edith Davis through the efforts of their children Richard Allen Davis, MD, and Nancy Davis Reagan. Dr. Loyal Davis began his lasting relationship with Northwestern University Medical School as a student, earning his medical doctorate in 1918, and his MS and PhD degrees in 1921 and 1923, respectively. In 1925, he joined the faculty at the Medical School as associate professor in the Department of Surgery, to become in 1932, at age 36, chair of the Department and one of only several neurosurgeons in the nation to be chair of a surgical department. In 1929, Dr. Davis married Edith Luckett. Together, they had a wide circle of friends from the arts, theater, politics, and sports worlds. A beloved educator and surgeon with a unique specialty, Dr. Loyal Davis’s surgical legacy will be honored in perpetuity by dynamic leaders such as Dr. Nathaniel Soper. | 
