Sterling K. Clarren is one of the world's leading researchers into fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), an umbrella term encompassing fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, static encephalopathy:alcohol exposed and prenatal alcohol exposed. He was the Robert A. Aldrich Professor of Pediatrics at the

University of Washington School of Medicine The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a large public medical school in the northwest United States, located in Seattle and affiliated with the University of Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Grad ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, and doctor for the university's FAS diagnostic and prevention clinic prior to becoming the CEO and Scientific Director of the Canada FASD Research Network. Clarren has studied FASD since 1975 and helped to establish the definitions of FAS and FAE. He wrote the first article on the

neuropathology Neuropathology is the study of disease of nervous system tissue, usually in the form of either small surgical biopsies or whole-body autopsies. Neuropathologists usually work in a department of anatomic pathology, but work closely with the clini ...

of FAS, and developed the first non-human

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

model for studying dose-response. He has testified about FASD before the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

and the Washington State Legislature.

Education

Clarren received his bachelor's from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and his MD from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. His postgraduate training was in pediatrics, and fellowship training was in neuroembryology,

teratology Teratology is the study of abnormalities of physiological development in organisms during their life span. It is a sub-discipline in medical genetics which focuses on the classification of congenital abnormalities in dysmorphology. The relate ...

, and dysmorphology at the University of Washington.

Professional life

Clarren is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a past president of the FAS study group for the Research Society on Alcoholism, past president of the West Coast Teratology Society, and a member of the Society for Pediatric Research, New York Academy of Science, the Teratology Society. He has received funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the

Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

, the Glaser Foundation, and the March of Dimes. He has published over 100 scholarly papers. Clarren is currently working as a clinical professor for the Centre for Community Child Health Research at the Child and Family Research Institute in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

Papers

*Clarke, MP, Tough SC, Hicks M, Cook J, Foulkes E, Clarren SK. (2005). "Attitudes and approaches of Canadian providers to preconception counseling and the prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders." ''Journal of FAS International''. *Clarke, MP, Tough SC, Hicks M, Cook J, Foulkes E, Clarren SK. (2005). "Approaches of Canadian providers the diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders." ''Journal of FAS International''. *Astley, SJ, Stachowiak J, Clarren SK, Clausen C. (2002). "Application of the fetal alcohol syndrome facial photographic screening tool in a foster care population." ''J. Pediatrics'', 141:712-17. *Clarren, SK, Randels SP, Sanderson M, Fineman RM. (2001). "Screening for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in primary schools – a feasibility study." ''Teratology'', 63:3-10. *Miller, RI, Clarren SK. (2000). "Long term developmental outcomes in patients with deformational plagiocephaly." ''Pediatrics'', 105:417(e26).

Books and chapters

*Clarren, SK. "Alcohol teratogenesis and fetal alcohol syndrome." In L. Osborn, T. DeWitt, L. First. (eds.). ''Comprehensive Pediatrics''. St. Louis : Harcourt Press, in press 2004. *Clarren SK. "Fetal alcohol syndrome & fetal alcohol spectrum disorders." In: M.L. Wolrich. (ed.). ''Disorders of Development & Learning''. Hamilton, Ontario : BC Decker, 2003. *Clarren SK, Astley SJ. "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome". In: S.B. Cassidy and J. Allanson J. (eds.). ''Clinical Management of Common Genetic Syndromes''. New York : Wiley and Sons, 2001. *Clarren, SK. "Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the context of alcohol exposure in utero". In: P. Accardo, T.A. Blondis, B. Whitman, M.A. Stein. (eds.). ''Attention Deficits and Hyperactivity in Children and Adults'', 2nd Edition. New York : Marcel Dekker, Inc., 2000. *Astley SJ, Clarren SK. ''Diagnostic Guide for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Related Conditions: The 4-Digit Diagnostic Code''. 2nd Edition University of Washington Press, Seattle, Washington, 1999.

References

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarren, Sterling American medical researchers Living people Yale University alumni University of Minnesota Medical School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American health care chief executives