Dr. Fred Richard Sattler, MD

Dr. Fred Sattler is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, which is steadily growing in numbers and stature both within the University and in the scientific community. The Division provides enormous 1) consultative service to the local teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Southern California, 2) primary care to nearly 3000 HIV infected ambulatory patients, and 3) oversight of the epidemiology programs at the teaching hospitals.

Dr. Sattler is principal investigator of the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit at USC of the NIAID funded AIDS Clinical Trials Group. The grant is currently in its 19th year of funding at USC. Dr. Sattler has provided scientific leadership for nearly two decades, most recently in studies that evaluate the pathophysiology and management of HIV associated weight loss, changes in body fat and metabolic complications. He continues to serve as a chair, co-chair, vice-chair, or protocol team member for a number of studies including ACTG 313, 329, 392, …892, 5079, 5112s, 5116s, 5124s and 5125s and along with other studies in planning. As an outgrowth of studies of AIDS muscle wasting, Dr. Sattler conducted investigator-initiated pilot studies in the USC GCRC to evaluate the effects of anabolic androgens in elderly subjects with loss of skeletal muscle mass (sarcopenia) and muscle strength and who are thus at risk for frailty and who have gains in central fat and are at risk for the metabolic syndrome. These studies have demonstrated dose dependent improvements in muscle mass, maximal voluntary strength, and leg power, which are necessary constituents for physical function, independence, and quality of life during aging. Study subjects also experienced a dose-related decrease in total and central fat as an additional response to study intervention.

Based on the results of these studies which have been presented in at the Endocrine Society meetings, Dr. Sattler obtained commitments from Genentech, Tap, Solvay pharmaceutical companies to supply rhGH (recombinant human growth hormone), leuprolide acetate, and a new, more physiologic topical formulation of testosterone to study the interactions of the growth hormone/IGF-1 and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes in regulating muscle and adipose tissue in elderly persons. These activities culminated in his being funded by the National Institutes of Aging as PI to conduct a multicenter four-year study to evaluate the effects of restoring these hormonal axes to youthful levels on net anabolic protein balance. The translational effects of these interventions as measured by net anabolic balance of skeletal muscle protein synthesis and breakdown, body composition (DEXA, MRI and total body water analysis by stable isotope biology), anthropometry, skeletal muscle strength, power, and physical function, maximal ventilatory capacity, and aerobic endurance are being measured in the USC GCRC

Despite Dr. Sattler's extensive research activities and multiple important administrative posts, he is highly committed to teaching at all levels. Whether guiding a clinical fellow through logical decision-making in a complex case, or mentoring students, postdoctoral fellows, or junior faculty, he remains thoroughly accessible, insightful, and compassionate, while ceaselessly energetic.