Andrea Prader, MD (December 23, 1919-June 3, 2001)
submitted by Alan D. Rogol, MD, Ph.D
Andrea Prader was a Swiss pediatrician who came to the United States in the 1950’s where he became interested in endocrinology especially from contact with Dr. Lawson Wilkins. He returned to Zurich to become Professor and Chair of the Pediatrics. During his long tenure he described aspects of the role of sex steroids in children with differences in sex-development and disorders of steroid biosynthesis. He described the Prader scale for virilization of the external genitalia as well as the Prader “beads” for quantitating testicular volume. With Labhart and Willi he described the eponymous syndrome (Schweiz Med Wschr 1956; 86:1260).
The Andrea Prader Prize established in 1984 is given to an ESPE member in recognition of their achievements in pediatric endocrinology.