Jeffrey R. Starke, MD
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Jeffrey R. Starke, MD, is a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Brown University in 1976 and received his MD from the University of Rochester in 1980. After completing his residency in pediatrics and his fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases, Starke joined the Baylor faculty, where he has remained. His major area of study has been tuberculosis in children, having cared for over 1,100 children with TB disease.
Starke authored more than 170 papers and 60 book chapters on childhood TB, and he is an editor of the multi-authored international book Handbook of Child and Adolescent Tuberculosis. His research papers have covered a wide variety of mycobacterial-related topics, including new diagnostic techniques such as interferon-gamma release assays, pharmacokinetics of antituberculosis drugs, treatment trials for TB infection and disease, and reviews of various clinical aspects of childhood TB. He was the infection control officer for 22 years at Texas Children’s Hospital and published about the infection control aspects of childhood TB. His work demonstrated that most children are not contagious, but also that it is important to screen parents of children with suspected TB because they often have previously undiagnosed TB.
He has served on numerous expert and guideline writing groups for the American Thoracic Society, Infectious Diseases Society of America, AAP, CDC and WHO. He served two terms as chairman of the CDC’s Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis.
Starke has been active in medical education, having given over 100 national and international presentations on TB. He has won many teaching awards at his institution, including the Barbara and Corbin J. Robertson, Jr. Presidential Award for Excellence in Education — the highest education award given by Baylor College of Medicine. In 2021, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Region of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. In October 2022, he received the Distinguished Research Award from the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.
Reference:
Starke JR, Donald PR, eds. Handbook of Child and Adolescent Tuberculosis. Oxford University Press, 2015. https://academic.oup.com/book/24426.