Internationally renowned sickle cell researcher Michael R. DeBaun, M.D. is joining one of the most select health policy advisory bodies in the U.S., with his recent election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
It represents the height of professional achievement and commitment to service by those who are at the top of their field in health professions; natural, social and behavioral sciences; law; administration; engineering and humanities.
“It is an organization that allows for systematic approaches to address health policy issues that affect Americans,” DeBaun said.
“It’s quite an honor, and I’m humbled to be recognized by my peers and be a member of the institute.”
DeBaun – a department chair at Washington University School of Medicine and pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital – was reached in Atlanta, where he is on a year-long sabbatical for sickle cell disease research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s not something that you dream about or think about because it’s such a select group,” DeBaun said of his election to the institute.
DeBaun’s colleagues deem the recognition to be deserved.
“He is a leader in understanding and treating sickle cell disease with vast expertise in asking clinically important questions and delving with rigor into the underlying processes so as to develop tomorrow’s treatment strategies,” said Alan L. Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Department of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine and pediatrician-in-chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“He is keenly aware of health disparities and pursues this area with passion. Dr. DeBaun is undoubtedly the world’s authority on silent stroke in children with sickle cell disease.”
As a member of the institute, DeBaun must commit to devote a significant amount of volunteer time on committees engaged in a broad range of health-policy issues.
“The Institute of Medicine is responsible for setting up studies and evaluations of health policies in the U.S. and have been responsible for several landmark panels that have changed the face of how we practice medicine,” DeBaun said.
Several years ago, the institute released the report “Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care,” which offered recommendations for improvements in health care for people of color.
Sickle cell and blood supply
DeBaun’s own work on sickle cell disease, which primarily impacts African Americans, and on the need for blacks to donate blood has set national standards for proactive approaches to fighting health disparities.
DeBaun established a program for treatment, education and research into the complications of sickle cell disease. Under his leadership, a team of investigators received funding for the first National Institutes of Health-sponsored international clinical trial in sickle cell disease called the Silent Cerebral Infarct Transfusion Trial.
His research has also focused on determining the epidemiology, clinical significance and genetic basis for asthma and pain in children with sickle cell disease. DeBaun and his colleagues were the first to demonstrate that asthma increases mortality and morbidity in individuals with sickle cell disease.
As the principal investigator for NIH-funded grants, DeBaun has received more than $25 million in support for his research.
DeBaun’s current research at the CDC is focusing on trying to understand the genetic basis for the wide range of severity of sickle cell disease.
DeBaun, along with the Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease Clinical and Research Team, has initiated multiple community-based activities to improve the quality of life of individuals with sickle cell disease.
In 1999, the team started and currently conducts Camp Crescent, the only camp for children with sickle cell disease in the area. Although his sabbatical at the CDC runs through September of next year, youngsters with sickle cell will not miss out on Camp Crescent next summer.
“There is very little that will keep me from Camp Crescent that I know of,” DeBaun said. “It is really truly one of the pleasures of my year.”
DeBaun also initiated The Charles Drew blood donation program, in partnership with the American Red Cross, designed to increase the number of African-American blood donors in St. Louis, and the Sickle Cell Sabbath, a faith-based effort to educate African Americans about the disease and blood donation.
These programs have at least doubled the number of units of blood donated by African Americans in the area and are recognized as a national benchmark for how to increase blood donation among African-Americans.
In 2002, DeBaun established the Ferring Scholar Program, supported by John and Alison Ferring, to attract talented high school students into the sciences. Through this program, students are chosen for a three-year internship at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine to experience health care and research first-hand. The program also provides mentoring with School of Medicine faculty.
DeBaun also is a national advocate for children with sickle cell disease. In 2004, he co-authored a bill that was sponsored by former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent from Missouri and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer from New York that became the Sickle Cell Treatment Act.
The bill, signed into law Oct. 22, 2004, allows states to receive federal funding for patient counseling, educational initiatives and community outreach programs. Patients can also receive federal matching funds for sickle cell disease-related services under Medicaid. The new law also set the groundwork to develop new sickle cell treatment centers nationwide and established a National Coordinating Center for Sickle Cell Disease.
DeBaun is an author of more than 120 peer-reviewed publications. The School of Medicine presented him with the Pediatrics Clinical Teacher of the Year Award twice.
DeBaun is a St. Louis native who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Howard University in Washington, D.C. He then earned a medical degree and a master’s degree in health services research from Stanford University School of Medicine.
DeBaun returned to St. Louis in 1987 for a pediatric residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, where he was selected as a pediatric chief resident and later pediatric hematology and oncology fellow. His current appointment is as Ferring Family Chair in Pediatric Cancer and Related Disorders and professor of pediatrics, biostatistics and neurology.
DeBaun’s actual induction ceremony into the Institute of Medicine will take place October 2010.
