DUMC taps new chair of pediatrics

Duke University Medical Center announced the appointment of Dr. Joseph St. Geme to the chair of the Department of Pediatrics Monday. St. Geme, currently a professor of pediatrics and molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine, will take over the department July 1.

“Joseph St. Geme is an outstanding clinician with a strong track record of leadership who will build on the strengths of our pediatrics faculty and research,” Dr. Sandy Williams, dean of the School of Medicine and vice chancellor for academic affairs, said in a statement.

Recognized for his expertise in basic research and clinical treatment for pediatric infectious diseases, St. Geme, selected after a year-long search, will replace Dr. Michael Frank, who decided to step down from the post in late 2003. Dr. Dennis Clement has been serving as the interim chair of the department during the search process and was also considered for the position. St. Geme was initially approached by the search committee in August 2004.

“I am thrilled to be joining the esteemed academic community at Duke, and I look forward to contributing to the tradition of excellence in patient care, teaching and research that have characterized the Duke Department of Pediatrics for a long time,” St. Geme said in a statement.

St. Geme will oversee clinical activities and research in the Department of Pediatrics, an area of DUMC that has been controversial over the past few years. Since 2003, Duke University Hospital has increased efforts in ensuring patient safety after several incidents involving the pediatrics department forced the hospital to reevaluate its safety measures.

“My impression of Duke based on my visits are that the Hospital and the Department of Pediatrics have made significant improvements already,” St. Geme said of patient safety at DUH. “The naming of Karen Frush as chief patient safety officer is an important step in the right direction, and it’s important to keep patient safety as a priority.... They are on the right track and setting the tone for the country in this respect.”

St. Geme’s research into the genetic and molecular basis of virulence by Haemophilus influenzae, a bacterium that causes middle ear infections, bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia and meningitis, has helped efforts to create a vaccine for these infections.

The president-elect of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and three-time Clinical Teacher of the Year at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Geme earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1984 before completing his residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He was a postdoctoral fellow in infectious diseases and microbiology at Stanford University, his alma mater, from 1988 to 1992, when he joined the Department of Pediatrics at Washington University.