George E. Shambaugh III, MD
“My parents’ legacy in the creation of AHRF continues to be vitally important. It’s now estimated that almost 16% of adults in our country have hearing loss. The research that AHRF makes possible gives hope for greater knowledge and imminent discoveries.”
—George E. Shambaugh III, MD, FACP, FACE
ACE Distinction in Endocrinology Award
Teaching is a passion for George E. Shambaugh III, MD, FACP, FACE—everything from the establishment of a cyclic training program in preventive medicine in the Chinese Army, to teaching practical clinical endocrinology to medical residents at Northwestern University prior to their formal fellowship training in endocrinology, and a short course entitled “Molecular Endocrinology: A Beginning,” given to the endocrine fellows at Emory.
At Northwestern, Shambaugh was active in the formation of the fellowship training program, served as co-director of the nutrition elective, established a diabetes teaching program at the VA Lakeside Medical Center in Chicago and at their satellite Adam P. Benjamin Clinic in Crown Point, Indiana. Today, he continues to be an active participant in the ongoing teaching activities in the Division of Endocrinology at Emory University and in the Grady Health System.
Shambaugh was born in Boston and was raised in Chicago. He earned his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. He interned at Denver General Hospital, University of Colorado, before entering the Army. He trained in Preventive Medicine at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, and spent two years in Taiwan, China as a Preventive Medicine Advisor to the staff of the Surgeon General Army of the Republic of China.
Upon completion of his residency in Internal Medicine at Walter Reed General Hospital, he continued in the Research and Development Command at the Walter Reed Unit in Ft. Detrick, Maryland, where he began his career in endocrinology, studying the metabolic changes during infection on thyroid function. Following completion of his fellowship as a research internist, he moved to the University of Wisconsin as a fellow in Physiologic Chemistry, joining others examining the mechanism of thyroid hormone action on urea biosynthesis in the tadpole.
He returned to Chicago and joined the faculty in the Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition at Northwestern and became a full professor. His research focused on the impact of nutrition on thyrotropin-releasing hormone in the developing rat brain and the human placenta, fetal fuels, and pyrimidine biosynthesis.
In 1999, he retired from Northwestern after 30 years and moved to Emory University in Atlanta, where he currently teaches clinical endocrinology in the Emory at Grady Health System.
Shambaugh has held several positions in professional societies and currently serves on the AACE Publications Committee, AACE Nutrition Committee, and AACE Health Disparities Committees. He has published widely in a variety of journals and has contributed several textbook chapters and reviews. He received the Nanette Wenger Service Award from the Department of Medicine at Emory University, the Alumni Class President of the Year Award from Oberlin College in Ohio, and the Edward J. Heaney Award from the Asheville School in North Carolina.
Outside of medicine, Shambaugh is a cherry grower on the Old Mission Peninsula in northwest Michigan and enjoys cooking with his wife—as their conjugal hobby.