Steven L. Teitelbaum, MD

Steven L. Teitelbaum, MD ’64, HS ’68, is renowned as one of the world’s leading experts in bone metabolism. He is currently the Wilma and Roswell Messing Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine.Teitelbaum’s pioneering research focuses on bone cell biology for the purpose of developing new treatments for the prevention and cure of diseases such as osteoporosis. He has published nearly 300 papers in his career. In the late 1970s, he developed a method to diagnose bone disorders and studied the role of Vitamin D to overcome defective bone formation. Since the 1980s, his work explained many fundamental points of the early development and functions of osteoclasts, cells involved in bone destruction; he identified a genetic regulatory factor that controls osteoclast development, clarified precisely how osteoclasts degrade bone, and developed an inhibitor of this process — work that may lead to a treatment for human osteoporosis.

He has held leadership positions in many national organizations, including serving as President of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology and of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. He has testi- fied before the U.S. Congress in support of stem cell research. Among his honors are the William F. Newman Award of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, Washington University’s Second Century Award and the Rous-Whipple Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathology.

Teitelbaum received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia College in 1960. He earned his medical degree from Washington University in 1964 and completed internships and a residency at Washington University and New York University. Teitelbaum returned to Washington University in 1968 as a clinical fellow in pathology. He served as chair of the Department of Pathology of the Jewish Hospital from 1987 to 1996 and of that institution’s institutional review board from 1977 to 1997. The WUMC Alumni Association named a scholarship to honor him as a distinguished alumnus in 1997.

The Washington University Medical Center Alumni Association proudly bestows the Distinguished Service Award upon Dr. Teitelbaum.