William J. Steinbach, M.D., will join the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as chair of the Department of Pediatrics and associate dean for Child Health in the UAMS College of Medicine, as well as pediatrician-in-chief of Arkansas Children’s, effective Jan. 15, 2022.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Steinbach join UAMS as we work with Arkansas Children’s to provide world-class pediatric care and improve the health of children across Arkansas,” said Dr. Susan Smyth, executive vice chancellor and UAMS College of Medicine dean. “Bill brings exceptional leadership experience in pediatric clinical care, education and research – the key areas that together help us ensure a brighter future for Arkansas’ children.”
Steinbach succeeds Frederick “Rick” E. Barr, M.D., who in November assumed a new post as chief executive vice president and chief clinical and academic officer for Arkansas Children’s.
“I wanted to be part of a health system that changes children’s lives, and at a university where simply outstanding clinical care propels an intellectual curiosity to think past the next horizon,” Steinbach said.
He is currently the Samuel L. Katz Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and a professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, as well as chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Duke University. Since October, he has also been the interim chief of Duke’s Division of Pediatric Transplant and Cellular Therapy, and since March, he has been vice chair of research for the university’s Department of Pediatrics. He founded the Duke Pediatric Immunocompromised Host Program, a multidisciplinary clinical care and research program supporting immunosuppressed children.
Steinbach earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biology in 1994 from the University of Notre Dame and his medical degree in 1998 from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He completed a pediatrics residency at Stanford University before continuing his training with a pediatric infectious diseases fellowship funded by the NIH through the Pediatric Scientist Development Program at Duke. He joined the faculty at Duke in 2004 as an assistant professor.
In 2016, he received the American Federation for Medical Research Outstanding Investigator Award, given annually to the top translational biomedical researcher in the country under age 45. In 2017, he received the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s Oswald Avery Award as the top adult or pediatric infectious diseases researcher under 45.
Steinbach has multiple research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that he will bring to UAMS. He founded and directs the International Pediatric Fungal Network, a NIH-funded global consortium of 55 sites dedicated to investigating pediatric invasive fungal infections through multicenter cooperative studies. He has co-edited four different infectious diseases textbooks and serves on multiple national committees.
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