Academy
R. Eric Lombard, PhD
Professor, Department of Anatomy
University of Chicago
R. Eric Lombard, PhD
Eric Lombard, PhD is Professor of the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago. Throughout his career at the University of Chicago, Dr. Lombard has dedicated himself to the advancement of education through teaching and administration.
Dr. Lombard received his Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry from Hanover College, Indiana, in 1965. He completed his PhD in Anatomy from the University of Chicago in 1971 (while in residence at the University of California, Berkeley). After a year at the University of Southern California as a Postdoctoral Associate, Dr. Lombard returned to the University of Chicago as an Assistant Professor in 1972, rising to Associate Professor in 1978 and to Professor in 1996.
Dr. Lombard’s work in paleontology focuses on the origin and early evolution of complex structural systems in terrestrial vertebrates. As a research associate at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Dr. Lombard is working with collaborators to understand the skeletal structure in some of the earliest tetrapods known. His long-term goals are to contribute to a reasonable hypothesis for evolutionary relationships among early land animals and to understand the early evolution of feeding and hearing mechanisms in the transition to land. His original research has appeared in the Journal of Paleontology, American Zoologist, and Paleontology among others. He has also contributed to several books on evolutionary topics.
During his years at Pritzker, Dr. Lombard taught anatomy. From 1971-1978 he taught in the first year Anatomy course moving to Course Director for the experimental Human Morphology course in the ASHUM program from 1979-1982, and, ultimately, Course Director in the Human Morphology Course at Pritzker during 1984-1992. Dr. Lombard gained acclaim as a valuable teacher and mentor who affirmed students’ interests and helped them gain courage and confidence in their own skills; for this, he was awarded the Basic Science Teaching Award six times by graduating Medical students. While teaching in the Pritzker Curriculum, Dr. Lombard also taught introductory and upper level biology courses in the College and graduate courses in paleontology and vertebrate structure. Dr. Lombard is now once again teaching in the Human Morphology Course after period of administrative service to the College and the Pritzker School of Medicine.
In 1975 Dr. Lombard became a member of the Pritzker School of Medicine’s Admissions Committee. Twice, from 1990-1993 and 2000-2005, he served as an Associate Dean in Student Affairs for Admissions/Financial Aid at the Pritzker School of Medicine. Under his leadership, the Pritzker School of Medicine’s admission process moved to an entirely electronic system. He also significantly increased faculty participation in all aspects of the admissions process, and developed a strategy for awarding scholarship funds. As Dean, Dr. Lombard enhanced the highly regarded student-friendly admissions process of Pritzker, which emphasizes fairness, openness, timely decisions and communication, and a broad participation by Pritzker’s students. In addition to his Medical school duties, Dr. Lombard served as the Faculty Director for Health Professions Advising at the College from 1996-2001.
In 2006, in recognition of his contributions to the Medical school and the quality of its teaching, Dr. Lombard was named as one of the six inaugural members of the University of Chicago Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators.
