Janet R. Serwint , MD
Co-Investigator, Baltimore Clinical Center — Johns Hopkins Hospital
- Site
- Baltimore
- Affiliation
- Johns Hopkins Hospital
- TLC era
- 1990s
- Tags
- Co-InvestigatorPediatricsIron Status PaperJohns Hopkins
Pediatrician at Johns Hopkins Hospital and co-investigator at the Baltimore TLC site. First author of the TLC iron-status analysis (1999 J Pediatrics), the principal source cited to dismiss iron deficiency as a confound in TLC.
The 1999 paper analyzed iron deficiency prevalence using the screening cohort (not the randomized cohort) and applied a low ferritin threshold — measuring iron status at screening rather than during the treatment phase, and using a threshold that underestimates true iron deficiency. The paper cannot actually rule out iron deficiency as a factor affecting chelation efficacy in the children who were randomized and treated.
Despite these limitations, the paper is routinely cited as evidence that iron deficiency was not a problem in TLC, foreclosing further inquiry into whether iron-deficient children responded differently to succimer.
Co-investigator at the Baltimore TLC clinical center, based at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
First author of the 1999 iron-status paper analyzing baseline ferritin and blood lead in the TLC screening cohort.