By Gila Z. Reckess
May 18, 2001
Steven L. Teitelbaum, M.D., has been selected as president-elect of the Federation of Amer-ican Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), effective July 1.
FASEB is the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States, representing 21 societies and having more than 60,000 members.
Teitelbaum, the Wilma and Roswell Messing Professor of Pathology at the School of Medicine, will serve as FASEB president from July 1, 2002, to July 1, 2003. He also is a pathologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and at the St. Louis Shriners' Hospital for Children.
The mission of FASEB is to enhance the ability of biomedical and life scientists to improve, through their research, the health, well-being and productivity of all people. It serves the interests of these scientists, particularly in those areas related to public policy. The group also facilitates coalition activities among member societies and disseminates information on biological research through scientific conferences and publications.
Teitelbaum's primary goal as FASEB president will be to promote the federal funding of biomedical and life sciences research.
"With the tools and knowledge at our disposal, we are poised to make bold and exciting progress in the battle against disease," he said. "As biologists, we have an intimate knowledge of the investments needed and appreciate that advances in other fields of science are important to our progress in biomedicine. Therefore, I am firmly committed to working with broad coalitions of scientists and others to ensure that our investment in research is sufficient to meet the challenges and opportunities before us."
Teitelbaum earned a medical degree from Washington University in 1964. After a one-year internship in pathology at the medical school, he completed an internship and residency at New York University and returned to Washington University in 1968 as a clinical fellow in pathology. He served as chairman of Jewish Hospital's Institutional Review Board from 1977-97 and also was pathologist-in-chief at Jewish Hospital from 1987-96. The medical school named a scholarship to honor him as a distinguished alumnus in 1997.
Teitelbaum has been a leader in studying bone cells and degeneration such as in osteoporosis. In the late 1970s, he developed a method of using structural changes in bone to diagnose disorders such as postmenopausal osteoporosis.
He also showed that vitamin D therapy helps overcome defective bone formation that occurs with kidney failure. In the '80s, he began studying bone cells called osteoclasts that cause localized destruction of bone during both normal development and disease. He demonstrated that osteoclasts are derived from white blood cells called macrophages and that they develop along a different pathway than cells that rebuild bone.
An author or co-author of more than 200 scientific articles, Teitelbaum also is an associate editor for the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry and serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals. He is a member of three FASEB societies and represents one of them, the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, on the federation's board.
"We look forward to working with Dr. Teitelbaum," said Sidney H. Golub, Ph.D., FASEB executive director. "He is greatly respected for his experience and knowledge in public affairs, human subjects research and other key issues. Furthermore, his skills at building consensus and his collegial style are well matched to the challenge of the FASEB presidency."
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