Todd Huntley Baron is an American gastroenterologist who is Professor of Medicine at the

University of North Carolina School of Medicine The University of North Carolina School of Medicine is a professional school within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It offers a Doctor of Medicine degree along with combined Doctor of Medicine / Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of M ...

. Additionally, he currently serves as the Director of Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy within UNC's Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He is known for his publishing in the field of gastroenterology particularly in

endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a technique that combines the use of endoscopy and fluoroscopy to diagnose and treat certain problems of the biliary or pancreatic ductal systems. It is primarily performed by highly skille ...

(ERCP),

endoscopic ultrasound Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) or echo-endoscopy is a medical procedure in which endoscopy (insertion of a probe into a hollow organ) is combined with ultrasound to obtain images of the internal organs in the chest, abdomen and colon. It can be used ...

(EUS) and other advanced endoscopic procedures. He has developed interventional endoscopic techniques for the care of patients with gastrointestinal, liver and other medical conditions. He was the first to describe endoscopic drainage of the gallbladder, placement of a colonic stent, and endoscopic pancreatic necrosectomy.

Early life

Baron was born in

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

in 1960, but was raised in South Florida from an early age. At the age of nine he entered competitive kart racing where he won numerous Florida State and Regional racing Championships and eventually won two

International Kart Federation The International Kart Federation was the first kart racing organization in the United States, founded and still based in California in 1957. In 1971 it was joined by the World Karting Association, which originally focused more on the Eastern and ...

Grand National Championships.

Medical career

Baron completed both his undergraduate and medical degrees from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida. He completed his internal medicine residency, chief residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

. He completed additional training at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in ERCP before joining the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he founded the ERCP program. He was recruited to the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

in Rochester, Minnesota where he became the director of pancreaticobiliary endoscopy. In 2014 he joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina as a professor of medicine and director of advanced therapeutic endoscopy.

Achievements

* First to describe endoscopic drainage of the gallbladder * First to describe placement of an expandable metal stent for the treatment of colonic obstruction * First to describe endoscopic pancreatic necrosectomy * First to describe drainage of a pelvic abscess through the rectum using a flexible endoscope

Honors and awards

Alpha Omega Alpha Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society () is an honor society in the field of medicine. Alpha Omega Alpha currently has active Chapters in 132 LCME- accredited medical schools in the United States and Lebanon. It annually elects over 4,000 new ...

Honor Society, postgraduate award 1987 * Master Endoscopy Award,

American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) is a professional organization of physicians dedicated to improving endoscopy. The ASGE is made up largely of gastroenterologists from the United States. Included in its membership are en ...

2010 * Henry S. Plummer Distinguished Physician Award, Mayo Clinic 2012 * Past President, of Society of Gastrointestinal Intervention

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baron, Todd American gastroenterologists Living people University of Florida alumni Year of birth missing (living people)