David E. Trueblood said, “A man has at least made a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he will never sit.” Through this magnanimous legacy gift, JULES B. EDLOW has planted trees whose shade will benefit millions of people who suffer from diabetes by fueling medical discovery and compassionate care.
In 1943, Jules Edlow enlisted in the U.S. Navy. For three years, he served with the Fleet Marine Corps. After discharge, he pursued undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. During the summers, he worked alternately as a butcher, a shoe salesman, and a medical laboratory technician. Dr. Edlow graduated from the University of Maryland Medical School in 1953. A clinical pathologist by training, he wrote and practiced in the community for over 60 years. His research and publication legacy includes topics such as neonatal Klinefelter’s Syndrome and the effects of irradiation on in utero fetal tissue. His wife, JOAN Edlow, was a talented watercolor painter. Johns Hopkins remains deeply grateful for Dr. and Mrs. Edlow’s vision for the future of medical care, their desire to relieve others’ suffering, and their hope in the promise of medicine.
Held by Thomas W. Donner
THOMAS W. DONNER, MD attended medical school at the University of Virginia. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine, a chief residency in Medicine, and an endocrinology fellowship at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Donner was the Medical Director of the Joslin Diabetes Center affiliate at the University of Maryland before joining Johns Hopkins in 2010. He is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine and became Director of the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Diabetes Center in 2011.
Dr. Donner’s research interests include finding ways to better manage type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and to prevent the loss of insulin-producing beta cells in patients with type 1 diabetes. After joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins University, his clinical and research interests became fully dedicated to diabetes.
Dr. Donner has been a clinical investigator in a number of NIH and industry-funded diabetes research trials. Together with his mentor Dr. Christopher Saudek, he investigated the safety and effectiveness of internal insulin pump therapy in the NIH-funded Veterans Affairs Implantable Insulin Pump Study. Dr. Donner served as a Co-Principle Investigator for 16 years on the NIDDK-funded Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Intervention and Complications (DCCT/EDIC) Study that investigated the long term effects of intensified diabetes control in young adults with type 1 diabetes. He was a co-principle investigator for the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) study that sought to determine ways to best treat patients with type 2 diabetes who had coronary artery disease.
Dr. Donner is currently collaborating with immunologist Dr. Abdel Hamad to prevent the loss of protective regulatory cells that precedes the development of type 1 diabetes and to learn more about a novel immune cell recently discovered in Dr. Hamad’s lab that may orchestrate the immune attack on beta cells in type 1 diabetes. Dr. Donner is a principle investigator for TrialNet, a multicenter, international consortium of researchers who are studying ways to prevent type 1 diabetes. He is also the lead investigator at Johns Hopkins for a study that involves the subcutaneous placement of encapsulated pancreatic stem cells in persons with type 1 diabetes, an intervention that may enable study subjects to come off insulin.
Dr. Donner was born in Baltimore where he now lives with his wife Danielle, and their three children Gabriel, Bridget and Celia. He is extremely honored to be the first recipient of the Jules B. Edlow, M.D. and Joan Edlow Professorship in Diabetes, a position poised to improve the lives of those with diabetes.