Pediatric oncologist named Chairman of Pediatrics

Abelson comes to Chicago from the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, where he is professor and chairman of pediatrics as well as pediatrician-in-chief and director of the department of medicine at Children's Hospital and Medical Center.

"Herbert Abelson is well respected in his field for both his clinical and research expertise," said Glenn Steele Jr., Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs. "We're very pleased to have him as Chairman, and we look forward to the leadership and experience he will bring to the Department of Pediatrics."

"As Chairman of Pediatrics, he will lead our growing academic department and care for some of our most important patients -- the children at Wyler Children's Hospital," said Ralph Muller, President of the Hospitals.

The Pediatrics Department is particularly well known for pediatric cancer care and research and for its innovative pediatric liver-transplant program, which is the largest such program in the United States. Physicians from Pediatrics staff Wyler Children's Hospital, Woodlawn Maternal & Child Health Center and La Rabida Children's Hospital & Research Center.

"My appointment at the University of Chicago comes at a time of growth and development in the Department of Pediatrics," Abelson said. "I welcome the opportunity to build and expand on the outstanding clinical, research and teaching programs and look toward improving the future of children's medicine in a large, urban environment."

Abelson has held academic appointments at Harvard Medical School, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Children's Hospital Medical Center and the Center for Cancer Research at MIT. His research interests include mechanisms of action of chemotherapy agents and treatment of childhood anemia.

He received his A.B. in 1962 from the University of Illinois and his M.D. in 1966 from Washington University School of Medicine. He serves on the board of directors of the American Board of Pediatrics, of which he is chairman-elect. He is also a member of the Pediatric Residency Review Committee, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.