Patricia DeLeon, the recipient of the 2017 Francis Alison Faculty Award, will deliver the Francis Alison Inaugural Lecture at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25 in Gore Recital Hall in the Roselle Center for the Arts.

DeLeon’s lecture is titled, “Improving Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART): From Bench to the Clinic.”

Department of Biological Sciences Chair Robin W. Morgan nominated DeLeon for the award, which is the University of Delaware’s highest competitive faculty honor. DeLeon, the Trustee’s Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, is a reproductive biologist and a recognized international leader in the study of sperm dysfunction and infertility.

A member of the UD faculty since 1976, DeLeon conducts research into the genetic and molecular mechanisms of spermatogenesis, epididymal function and the molecular aspects of fertilization. Some of her recent work has identified particle in secretions from the Fallopian tube that she and her team say could help couples struggling with infertility.

Patricia DeLeon, Trustees Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, photographed in the spring of 2017 in her McKinly Laboratory lab. Professor DeLeon studies "the identification of genes and mechanisms that are involved in sperm dysfunction and male factor infertility/subfertility."

Oct. 25: Alison Lecture by Patricia DeLeon

Article by UDaily Staff Photo by Evan Krape October 12, 2017

Biological sciences professor was named the 2017 Francis Alison Faculty Award winner

Patricia DeLeon, the recipient of the 2017 Francis Alison Faculty Award, will deliver the Francis Alison Inaugural Lecture at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25 in Gore Recital Hall in the Roselle Center for the Arts.

DeLeon’s lecture is titled, “Improving Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART): From Bench to the Clinic.”

Department of Biological Sciences Chair Robin W. Morgan nominated DeLeon for the award, which is the University of Delaware’s highest competitive faculty honor. DeLeon, the Trustee’s Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, is a reproductive biologist and a recognized international leader in the study of sperm dysfunction and infertility.

A member of the UD faculty since 1976, DeLeon conducts research into the genetic and molecular mechanisms of spermatogenesis, epididymal function and the molecular aspects of fertilization. Some of her recent work has identified particle in secretions from the Fallopian tube that she and her team say could help couples struggling with infertility.

In nominating DeLeon for this honor, Morgan said her work as a teacher and mentor “has been extraordinary.”

“Over the years, she has transitioned from a classical human geneticist to a top-tier molecular biologist,” Morgan said. “As science advanced, she was never content to stick with what was familiar; rather, she mastered new approaches and new methodologies and adapted them to her research.”

DeLeon earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, where she double-majored in chemistry and zoology. She earned her doctoral degree in microscopic anatomy at the University of Western Ontario and conducted postdoctoral research in cell biology and genetics at McGill University.

The Francis Alison Faculty Award was established in 1978 by the Board of Trustees to recognize the faculty members who best demonstrate the combination of scholarship and teaching exemplified by the Rev. Dr. Francis Alison, founder of the institution that is now UD. The annual award also confers membership in the Francis Alison Society.

Those planning to attend the Alison lecture are asked to RSVP by Oct. 18 to provost-events@udel.edu.