William J. Steinbach, M.D. Joins UAMS as Chair of Department of Pediatrics

Nov 26, 2021 at 12:43 pm by admin

William J. Steinbach

LITTLE ROCK -- 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.

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.

Renee Bornemeier, M.D., a professor of pediatric cardiology, vice chair for faculty affairs in the Department of Pediatrics and assistant dean for faculty affairs in the College of Medicine, will continue to serve as interim chair of the department until Steinbach's arrival.

Steinbach 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 in Durham, North Carolina. Since October, he has also been the interim chief of Duke's Division of Pediatric Transplant and Cellular Therapy, and since March he has also been vice chair of research for the university's Department of Pediatrics.

Steinbach founded the Duke Pediatric Immunocompromised Host Program, a multidisciplinary clinical care and research program supporting immunosuppressed children. His molecular, translational and clinical research focuses on the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of invasive fungal infections and spans broader efforts with all infections in immunocompromised patients. His laboratory centers on the fungus Apergillus fumigatus, a leading killer in patients with lowered immune systems, and the development of novel antifungal drugs and diagnostic assays.

He has multiple active basic, translational and clinical research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that he will bring to UAMS.

Steinbach 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 also co-founded and co-chairs the biennial international Advances Against Aspergillosis conference.

His wife, Susan Emmett, M.D., MPH, is an otolaryngologist and also an NIH-funded clinician-scientist.He has a daughter who just graduated from Duke University and will be in Ireland next year as a Mitchell Scholar before attending Harvard Law School, and a son who is a junior at Elon University in North Carolina.

Originally from Wisconsin, 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.

Sections: Grand Rounds