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David H. Perlmutter, MD, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh's physician-in-chief and the scientific director of the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center, is an accomplished clinician, educator and researcher whose investigation of alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency has earned him distinction as a leading authority on the most common genetic cause of childhood liver disease.
Since joining Children's Hospital in 2001, Dr. Perlmutter has led an effort to expand the hospital's basic research and exploit new technologies that enable scientists to investigate the molecular basis of disease and gain the knowledge necessary to develop innovative therapies. At the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, he is helping prepare future physicians and scientists as Vira I. Heinz Professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics.
He came to Pittsburgh after 15 years of distinguished work at St. Louis Children's Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, where his appointments included director of the hospital's Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition and Donald Strominger Professor of Pediatrics at the university. Dr. Perlmutter previously held appointments at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Perlmutter, who is certified in pediatrics and pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, earned his medical degree at St. Louis University in 1978. He trained in pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania and completed clinical and research fellowships in pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School.
He is past president of the Society of Pediatric Research and a member of numerous other professional organizations including the American Pediatric Society, American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians. In addition, he has served on the editorial board of a number of leading medical journals and is a past editor of Pediatric Research. Dr. Perlmutter's work has earned him several awards, including the E. Mead Johnson Award for Research in Pediatrics.
Dr. Perlmutter's work in the laboratory has long been supported by the National Institutes of Health and other funders of medical research. He has written extensively about his findings, publishing more than 140 articles in leading scientific journals.
His ongoing investigation of liver disease has significantly advanced the understanding of alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency and revealed possible ways to prevent the disorder. Dr. Perlmutter identified a class of compounds, called chemical chaperones, which partially correct alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency. One of the chemicals is an excellent candidate for preventing liver and lung disease in children with alpha-1- antitrypsin deficiency and for preventing other diseases caused by mutant proteins, including Alzheimer's disease. He also has recently formulated a novel hypothesis to explain the predisposition to hepatic cancer that characterizes a number of metabolic liver diseases as well as chronic viral hepatitis infections. | 