Ana María Arbeláez, MD, MSCI, was installed as the David English Smith Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. At a ceremony celebrating the event on Aug. 7, 2024, Arbeláez, a professor of Pediatrics, presented the talk titled, “Sweet Road to Shape Childhood Health.”
Arbeláez is a professor of pediatrics (InvestigatorTrack) at WashU Medicine. She serves as division director of the Division of Endocrinology & Diabetes and medical director of the Pediatric Clinical Research Unit. In addition, she is the co-director of ICTS TL1-Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Program and co-director of the NIDDK Step-Up Training Program..
She is a pediatric endocrinologist with a research focus on a novel intersection between the fields of clinical neuroscience and endocrinology. Her work has contributed to our understanding of the effects of diabetes in the brain and the brain-hormoneinteractions during the cascade of physiological responses that occur across various levels of glycemia and how these are altered in vivo in humans. She uses a combination of physiological manipulations, such as glucose or pancreatic clamps techniques, continuous glucose monitoring devices, mixed meal tolerance tests, and/or neuroimaging methodologies, such as PET and MRI. Arbeláez has experience leading multidisciplinary teams of national and international investigators. In addition, she has a track record of training and mentoring many predoctoral and postdoctoral scholars, fellows, and faculty. Aside of her passion for clinical research and patient care, she enjoys fostering child advocacy programs, as well as teaching and mentoring trainees.
Arbeláez’s work has been funded by both federal and non-federal sources, including the NIH, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Children’s Discovery Institute, the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, the Washington University Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
About Mary Ann Smith and David English Smith
The late Mary Ann Smith (1928–2017) established the David English Smith Professorship at Washington University School of Medicine with gifts and ac haritable remainder unitrust to honor her father, a 1914 graduate of the School of Medicine. The professorship was enhanced to the distinguished level in 2018. When Miss Smith declared her intention to establish the professorship, she requested that it be awarded to an individual in an area with the greatest need at the School of Medicine.
Dr. Smith, who was born in Fayette, Missouri, and grew up in Charleston, Missouri, attended Central College (now Central Methodist University) prior to enrolling at Washington University School of Medicine. As a medical student, he was president of his second-year class and a member of the medical fraternity Nu Sigma Nu. After receiving his medical degree, he completed an internship in pediatrics, obstetrics, and gynecology at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Later, he was appointed chief resident at Barnes (now Barnes-Jewish) Hospital.
Dr. Smith joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1917. As a regimental surgeon, he treated German prisoners while serving in a front-line dressing station during the Battle of the Argonne. He returned to Missouri in 1924 to practice medicine at Bonne Terre Hospital, where he specialized in surgery. He ultimately held the position of chief of staff. Dr. Smith, who was elected a fellow of the American Medical Association in 1921, died in 1944.
Mary Ann Smith graduated from Bonne Terre High School and then earned degrees in biology and English from Lindenwood College (now University) in St. Charles, Missouri. She spent a year atWashington University before earning a degree in business administration from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
After completing her education, Miss Smith bought an old dairy farm in Nashville, where she gave riding lessons while working in the finance and accounting department at Hospital Corporation of America. She spent her final years in Charleston, Missouri.