Alfred Baker, distinguished hepatologist, 1940-2022

Alfred L. Baker, MD, a distinguished hepatologist, mentor, and friend to many at the University of Chicago, died on March 1, 2022. He was 82 years old.

Baker joined the faculty at UChicago in 1973, where he rose to the rank of Professor of Medicine and Director of the Liver Study Unit. He helped develop the first Liver Transplant program in the Midwest, which grew to be one of the largest liver transplant programs in the world. During his tenure, the UChicago liver program became the first in the country to perform a pediatric living donor transplant and was among the first to perform liver transplants in patients with acute liver failure as well as multi-organ transplants (combination liver and heart).

“Dr. Baker was a legend in his own right, and he built a liver transplant program that became a seat of innovations and breakthroughs in the field,” said Helen Te, MD, Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of the Adult Liver Transplant Program at UChicago, who counted Baker as a mentor and helped care for him at the end of his life.

“He was known for his kind, southern gentlemanly nature and for his wit that brought smiles out even during difficult times. He was beloved as a devoted teacher by his students and trainees, as a compassionate and astute physician by his patients, and as a brilliant scholar by his colleagues. For those of us who were privileged to have received his tutelage, he taught us not only the science but also the art and humanity in medicine,” Te said.

A skilled clinician with a droll sense of humor

Al Baker received his B.S. (1962) and M.D. (1966) degrees from Wake Forest University. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Emory University/Grady Memorial Hospital and fellowship training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Tufts New England Medical Center in 1972. He also served as Chief Medical Resident at Tufts.

After 27 years at UChicago, Baker moved to Northwestern University in 2000, where he helped expand their programs in liver transplantation and general hepatology. He retired from patient care in 2005 but remained as emeritus professor there. In 2005, he also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Liver Foundation.

Those who trained and worked with Baker witnessed a skilled clinician with an incredible ability to distill complex cases into a focused diagnosis with a plan of care, all the while maintaining his characteristic wit.

“His astuteness and unexpectedly droll sense of humor made him quite the character and colleague,” said Robert Riddell, MBBS, a renowned GI pathologist and former colleague, now at the University of Toronto. “Some people you work with are more memorable than others, but there was no way you could forget Al.”

Despite failing vision later in life, Baker’s clinical activities did not slow, often aided by his wife of thirty years, Dot, who would accompany him on rounds and in review of labs and records. Even after leaving UChicago, he remained in his apartment in Hyde Park and stayed in touch with many of his former colleagues, sending occasional messages of encouragement or asking about activities in the neighborhood.

“Al’s legacy will live on in the hundreds of physicians who learned from him and the many thousands of patients who benefitted from his expertise and life of care, innovation, and scholarship,” said David T. Rubin, MD, Joseph B. Kirsner Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at UChicago Medicine.