Jeffrey Whitsett, MD, Named to Institute of Medicine

Jeffrey A. Whitsett, MD, professor of pediatrics at the UC College of Medicine and director of the Divisions of Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, has been selected for membership into the Institute of Medicine. 

Current active members elect new members from among candidates nominated for their professional achievement and commitment to service.  Dr. Whitsett takes his place in the Institute of Medicine along with 64 other newly elected members and five foreign associate members.  The Institute of Medicine's total active membership is now at 1,382.

"Election into the Institute of Medicine is a penultimate honor in the field of medicine," said William J. Martin II, MD, dean of the UC College of Medicine.  "Dr. Whitsett's contributions to the UC College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children's are myriad.  He is an internationally recognized scientist in how the lung develops and functions and he is an outstanding and caring neonatologist as well.  Dr. Whitsett is well deserving of this honor."

Dr. Whitsett received his BA from Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. and his MD from Columbia University, New York, N.Y.  He completed his internship and residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York and his fellowship in neonatology at the Cincinnati Children's.

Dr. Whitsett's research focuses on pulmonary medicine.  He made groundbreaking contributions in the identification of surfactant proteins and the elucidation of their structures, functions and regulation.  His research contributed in making surfactant protein replacement a routine treatment for respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants. 

Dr. Whitsett is a member of the Society for Pediatric Research, the American Thoracic Society and the American Society of Clinical Investigation.  He is the recipient of the Mead Johnson Award, an NIH Merit Award, the first Julius Comroe Award in Pulmonary Research from FASEB, the William Cooper Procter Award from Cincinnati Children's, the Amberson Lecture Award, and the Daniel Drake Medal from the UC College of Medicine.  He has authored more than 300 papers in basic science and clinical literature.