The current Paul Dishner Chair is Koyamangalath Krishnan MD, FRCP, FACP, currently Professor of Medicine and Chief, Hematology-Oncology in the Department of Internal Medicine, was appointed the second chair holder in 2006. 

Dr. Krishnan received his MBBS and MD degrees from the University of Madras, Chennai, India and Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Research, Chandigarh, India respectively.  He received further training in internal medicine and hematology in England and obtained his Membership of the Royal College of Physicians Diploma in 1991.  He completed his hematology-oncology fellowship training at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor in 1995. He subsequently was nominated as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

He has held faculty appointments at East Tennessee State University and at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. 

Dr. Krishnan sees patients with hematological and oncologic disorders at the Regional Cancer Center at Johnson City Medical Center.  His clinical interests include benign and malignant hematology and gastrointestinal malignancies.

In 2003, he was awarded the Dean’s Distinguished Research Award.  He has been nominated several times to “America’s Top Physicians”.  His research interests and publications have focused in cancer chemoprevention studies specifically the role of vitamin E isoforms (tocotrienols and tocopherols) in the prevention of cancer, cancer health disparities, and physician-patient communication.  He is currently a co-PI in a 5 year NIH R-25 grant to develop Instructional Modules to Improve Cancer Communication.