The Clinical Research Forum has presented its 2019 Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Awards, which include work by Thomas O. Carpenter, MD, professor of pediatrics (endocrinology) and of orthopaedics and rehabilitation, and clinical professor of nursing.
The Forum honored Carpenter in Washington on March 5, for his investigation of X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH), which is the most common cause of heritable rickets. In the words of the Forum's citation, "There has not been an approved therapy for the disorder since its identification over 50 years ago. Children in this study were the first to receive a new therapy that targeted the excess production of Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), a protein that regulates phosphate concentration in the human body. The study served as the pivotal trial leading to the very recent approval of burosumab for the treatment of XLH in children in both the U.S. and Europe. The study is likely to revolutionize the care of children with XLH, providing a simpler and more effective therapy, with the potential long-term advantages of fewer orthopedic surgeries, and fewer complications of phosphate loading."
Carpenter has maintained a career-long involvement in metabolic bone diseases in children. He currently directs the Yale Center for X-linked Hypophosphatemia and the Physiology Core of the Yale Core Center for Musculoskeletal Diseases. He earned his MD degree from the University of Alabama in 1977.