Newsbriefs ----------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Healthcare endows chair at School of Medicine U.S. Healthcare, one of the nation's largest managed care companies, has pledged $1.5 million to endow a professorship in medical genetics at the School of Medicine. "This extraordinary gesture will make it possible for us to support a world-class physician scientist to bolster our research enterprise," said Michael E. Johns, dean of the medical school. "Genetics has long been one of Johns Hopkins' core strengths. Such internationally recognized programs as the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man and the Genome Data Base are headquartered here. This endowment represents a commitment of two leaders in the delivery of health care to improve the health of the public." Johns said the School of Medicine's hope is to identify a recipient for the U.S. Healthcare Professorship this year. Plans are for the individual to be based in the Institute for Human Genetics, a new program aimed at enhancing collaboration among genetics researchers, educators, clinicians and counselors who have their primary appointments in a number of different departments in the School of Medicine.