Larry Pickering, M.D., FAAP, and his wife, Margaret, recently completed their longtime pledge to establish an endowed chair position within the West Virginia University School of Medicine.
Students, patients and their families will benefit from a West Virginia University School of Medicine endowment that provides financial support to enhance research, teaching and service activities within the growing Department of Pediatrics.
Larry Pickering, M.D., FAAP, and his wife, Margaret, recently completed their longtime pledge to establish an endowed chair position. As of Sept. 1, Charles J. Mullett, M.D., Ph.D., who has led the pediatrics department since 2018, is the inaugural Margaret T. and Larry K. Pickering Chair in Pediatrics.
“It’s an honor to be the first Pickering Chair,” Mullett said. “I’m grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Pickering for their commitment and dedication to WVU, and I’m excited to expand our efforts to train the next generation of pediatric specialists, develop cutting-edge therapies of the future and provide excellent medical care to West Virginia’s children thanks to their generous support.”
Mullett is a pediatric critical care specialist who grew up in Morgantown and earned his medical degree from WVU. He has overseen rapid growth within the Department of Pediatrics in preparation for the new WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital, which will provide comprehensive healthcare services for West Virginia children and families within one dedicated state-of-the-art facility. Slated for completion in 2021, the 150-bed, nine-story hospital is under construction next to WVU Medicine’s J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.
Born in Pittsburgh and raised in Wheeling, W.Va., Dr. Pickering is renowned researcher, author and lecturer who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases. He earned his medical degree at WVU, where his mentor – Dr. Gwendolyn Hogan – nurtured his interest in research and inspired him to pursue a career in academic medicine.
“This is a way to say ‘thank you’ to a great medical school and to the people who helped me along the way,” Pickering said. “I was so fortunate to be exposed to high-quality people when I was at WVU and to have acquired an outstanding education that has been the basis for what I’ve accomplished since then.”
Pickering completed his pediatric residency and infectious diseases fellowship at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri. He most recently served as senior advisor to the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, executive secretary of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and professor of pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Pickering was honored with the WVU School of Medicine’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1995. He and Margaret, who earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from WVU, previously established the Gwendolyn R. Hogan Pediatric Lectureship and the Margaret T. and Larry K. Pickering Medicine Scholarship. The couple has two adult children, Margaret and Andrew, and resides in San Diego, Calif.
The Pickerings’ gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.