Dr. Donald St. Germain

Dr. Donald St. Germain, DMS Professor of Medicine and of Physiology, is the director of the Dartmouth Community Medical School (DCMS), the DMS public education initiative. His goal, he states, is to enhance the public's awareness of the exciting advances that are taking place in human biology and medicine, and to do so in a forum that is interesting, understandable and relevant.

In planning the DCMS courses, he enlists as instructors the outstanding faculty who are available from Dartmouth Medical School and Dartmouth College, as well as guest faculty.

Dr. St. Germain received a B.S. degree (magna cum laude) in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University in 1972 and subsequently attended the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where he received the M.D.

degree in 1976. He completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology at University Hospitals of Cleveland in 1980, and subsequently served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. In 1981 he undertook a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Departments of Medicine and Physiology at Dartmouth Medical School, where he trained with Dr. Valerie Anne Galton and Dr. Robert Adler. He was appointed to the faculty of Dartmouth Medical School in 1984.

He currently maintains an active research program investigating the molecular mechanisms involved in the metabolism and action of thyroid hormones, and is particularly interested in the effects of this class of hormones during development. In addition to his research efforts, Dr. St. Germain is actively involved in teaching in several basic science and clinical courses at Dartmouth Medical School, is a former and current ad hoc member of the NIH Endocrinology Study Section, and maintains a consultative practice in general endocrinology with an emphasis on patients with thyroid disorders.