Andrew J. White, MD, director of the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology at Washington University School of Medicine, has been named the James P. Keating, MD, Professor of Pediatrics.
Dr. White was installed by Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, and Alan L. Schwartz, PhD, MD, the Harriet B. Spoehrer Professor, head of the Department of Pediatrics, and pediatrician-in-chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“Andy White is the ideal person to hold the James P. Keating Professorship,” Dr. Shapiro said. “He shares the same values of excellence and commitment to the best possible patient care that Jim Keating exemplified throughout his long career at Washington University and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Andy is a consummate educator and mentor, just like Jim Keating.”
The installation ceremony paid homage to Dr. Keating, an internationally recognized pediatrics professor at the School of Medicine who created one of the country’s first pediatric intensive care units, pioneered the pediatric gastroenterology subspecialty and introduced the concept of pediatric diagnostic medicine. Dr. Keating died in late 2014 at age 76.
“It is most fitting that Andy White is now the James P. Keating, MD, Professor of Pediatrics,” Dr. Schwartz said. “Dr. Keating is a legend and was simply the finest physician in the history of St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the finest physician with whom I have ever worked, and Andy White is the next Jim Keating.”
Dr. White directs the pediatric residency program at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, a post held by Dr. Keating for 33 years.
“Holding this professorship is particularly meaningful to me because I worked very closely with Jim in the diagnostic center, on the wards and in residency education,” Dr. White said. “Dr. Keating was a titan of medicine, who crafted, molded and mentored hundreds of students, residents and physicians here and across the country. He was, and continues to be, a tremendous inspiration to us all.”
Dr. White, who was named the Philip R. Dodge, MD, Scholar in Pediatrics in 2013, also serves as co-director of the Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Center of Excellence at Washington University, which treats the genetic blood disorder also known as Osler Weber Rendu.
Dr. White received a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University near Boston and a master’s in physical sciences from the University of Chicago. He earned his medical degree at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas before completing an internship and residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and a pediatric immunology and rheumatology fellowship at the School of Medicine.
