Michael Rutledge DeBaun
Michael Rutledge DeBaun is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where he holds the J.C. Peterson Endowed Chair. He is also the founder and director of the Vanderbilt-Meharry Center for Excellence in Sickle Cell Disease. his research on sickle cell disease has led to fundamental changes in understanding the clinical epidemiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of strokes and silent strokes in children and adults with sickle cell disease
Dr. DeBaun has led eight NIH- or foundation-funded controlled clinical trials designed to prevent strokes in children and adults with sickle cell disease in North America, Europe, and Nigeria. He was the primary physician author of the Sickle Cell Treatment Act, signed into law in 2004, which created regional networks for enhanced services for individuals with sickle cell disease. His contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2009 and the 2014 Ernest Beutler Prize and Lecture in Clinical Science from the American Society of Hematology.
Dr. DeBaun earned his M.D. and M.S. in Health Services Research from Stanford University School of Medicine. He completed his pediatric residency and chief residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital, followed by a fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at Washington University School of Medicine. He also completed a four-year United States Public Health Service Epidemiology fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, during which he obtained an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.