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Lester Baker Endowed Chair in Pediatric Diabetes: Dr. Stanley

In support of research to develop new treatments for children with diabetes, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has named Dr. Charles A. Stanley, chief of the Division of Endocrinology/Diabetes, as the recipient of the Lester Baker Endowed Chair in Pediatric Diabetes.

Dr. Stanley, a board-certified pediatric endocrinologist, is a world-renowned expert on disorders of insulin regulation in children. Dr. Stanley's ground-breaking research includes congenital hyperinsulinism; he discovered the gene defect in a form of the disease associated with high levels of blood ammonia. Recently, he was the senior author of a study in developing a diagnostic test for newborns that identifies a rare, severe form of congenital hyperinsulinism that can be cured with organ-sparing surgery.

"We hope to use the endowment to develop a method for genetic diagnosis of children born with hyperinsulinism," said Dr. Stanley, professor of pediatrics who joined the Penn faculty in 1972. "Genetic diagnosis will enable physicians to determine with greater accuracy and speed which babies have the best chance of cure by surgical treatment." In 2001, physicians at CHOP treated approximately 1,400 children with diabetes and had 450 visits by children with congenital hyperinsulinism.

The newly created endowed chair was established in the memory of Dr. Lester Baker, an internationally known diabetes researcher at CHOP. Dr. Baker joined CHOP in 1965, where he served as chairman of the Division of Endocrinology from 1978 to 1995. He was the founding director of the Diabetes Center for Children and the first director of CHOP's General Clinical Research Center. The Lester Baker Endowed Chair in Pediatric Diabetes supports research that will make a difference to children with diabetic problems, and carries on the legacy of an exemplary physician, scientist and teacher who greatly contributed to Children's Hospital.

Dr. Stanley has authored many peer-reviewed journal articles, chapters and reviews, and has lectured around the world. Currently, Dr. Stanley serves as principal investigator on research grants from the American Diabetes Association and the NIH, and is the director of the Core Laboratory of the General Clinical Research Center for Children at CHOP.

Dr. Stanley is a member of the American Diabetes Association, the Endocrine Society and Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and continued his education at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed his postgraduate training at CHOP. He has been a pediatric endocrinologist at Children's Hospital since 1975.

The Lester Baker Endowed Chair was funded by CHOP's Department of Pediatrics, the Baker Family Foundation, and friends, family and colleagues who wanted to pay tribute to Dr. Baker's accomplishments. Dr. Baker died September 17, 2000, at the age of 70 (Almanac September 26, 2000).


Almanac, Vol. 48, No. 18, January 15, 2002

ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS:

Tuesday,
January 15, 2002
Volume 48 Number 18
www.upenn.edu/almanac/

Jim Lehrer, an award-winning journalist from PBS, will deliver the commencement address at Penn on May 13.
A newly created endowed chair at CHOP is in memory of one endocrinologist and will be held by another endocrinologist, a long-time Penn faculty member.
The Open Forum on the Strategic Plan, originally scheduled for today, will be held on Monday, January 28 in 200 College Hall.
The Senate Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty issues their annual report which has countless comparisons and conclusions.
A memorial service will be held today for a Wharton junior who died over the winter break.
A memorial service will be held on Thursday for a staff couple who both died over break.
The Penn's Way Campaign concludes its weekly drawings and has named a grand prize winner for the iBook.