Meet Dr. Paul Stephen Thornton

I was born in Dublin, Ireland, and completed my medical school education there (hence the funny looking MD degree). After medical school, I moved to London and did some pediatric training there. Then, I moved to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where I completed my residency and a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology. I stayed on staff at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for several years before returning to Ireland in 1996 to run the National Center for Inherited Metabolic Diseases. In 1999, I moved back to Philadelphia and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to become the clinical director of the Congenital Hyperinsulinism Center, working closely with Dr. Charles Stanley. In 2003, I moved to Cook Children's Medical Center where I am very happy to continue working and hope to retire.

I knew I wanted to become a doctor at the age of 12 and never had plans to do anything else with my life, except perhaps become a chef. Once I got into medical school at 18, I very quickly realized I wanted to be a pediatrician. However, I didn't decide to become a pediatric endocrinologist until I started my training at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (where I was fortunate to work with the world's experts in hypoglycemia who taught me everything they knew and were responsible for fostering my love for helping babies and children with hypoglycemic disorders).

As the director of Cook Children's Endocrinology department, I have focused my energy on running the Congenital Hyperinsulinism Center and participating in the congenital adrenal hyperplasia, differences of sexual differentiation and Silver Russel clinics. I continue to see a few of my patients with general endocrine disorders that I have treated over the last 13-15 years so I can help transition them to adulthood.

My passion is for clinical medicine, making children comfortable at their medical visits and about their medical conditions, making the correct diagnosis and implementing the right treatment, while doing the least amount of testing and incurring the least amount of cost for families and yet providing the best quality of care. I like to approach my interactions with families with humor, while at the same time demonstrating empathy and understanding of the difficulties they are faced with on a daily basis managing a complex medical condition. I love to do research and travel around the world educating doctors about the rare diseases I treat. I especially love this now that my wife can travel with me because at the end of the day work is not just about taking care of patients, but also being able to spend time with and enjoy family.

We go above and beyond by providing a huge amount of knowledge and support to families. – Paul Thornton, M.D.

After our baby didn't grow (height or weight) for over 6 months, we switched to Dr. Thornton and her growth has been right on target for years- she is now 5 years old and thriving! We adore Dr. Thornton and the whole Endocrinology care team. We have been incredibly blessed by them. They are top notch. - Patient family

Services

  • Disease treatment and care
  • State-of-the-art testing and diagnostics
  • Precision medicine for the treatment of congenital hyperinsulinism

Publications

Elizabeth Rosenfeld, MD, MSCE. Paul S. Thornton, MB, BCh, MRCPI, DCH. Hypoglycemia in neonates, infants, and children. Received August 22, 2023. https://www.cookchildrens.org/siteassets/documents/specialties/endocrinology/hyperinsulinism/hypoglycemia-in-neonates.pdf

Paul S. Thornton 1,2 and Colin P. Hawkes 3,4,5. Approach to the Patient: Investigation of Pediatric Hypoglycemia in the Emergency Department—A Practical Algorithm. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2024, 00, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgae072

Paul S. Thornton 1, Diva D. De Leon 2, 3, Susann Empting 4, David Zangen 5, David M. Kendall 6, Sune Birch 6, Eva Bøge 6, Jelena Ivkovic 6, and Indraneel Banerjee 7. Dasiglucagon for the Treatment of Congenital Hyperinsulinism: A Randomized Phase 3 Trial in Infants and Children. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2023, 00, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgad648

Charles A. Stanley 1, 2, Paul S. Thornton 3, 4, and Diva D. De Leon 1,2. New approaches to screening and management of neonatal hypoglycemia based on improved understanding of the molecular mechanism of hypoglycemia. March 2023. DOI 10.3389/fped.2023.1071206. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2023.1071206/full

Preneet Cheema Brar 1, Ryan Heksch 2, Kristina Cossen 3, Diva D. De Leon 4, Manmohan K. Kamboj 5, Seth D. Marks 6, Bess A. Marshall 7, Ryan Miller 8, Laura Page 9, Takara Stanley 10, Deborah Mitchell 10, and Paul Thornton Management and Appropriate Use of Diazoxide in Infants and Children with Hyperinsulinism. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2020, Vol. 105, No. 12, 1–12 doi:10.1210/clinem/dgaa543. https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/105/12/3750/5894029

Danielle Drachmann 1, Erica Hoffmann 1, Austin Carrigg 1, Beccie Davis‑Yates 1, 2, Valerie Weaver 1, Paul Thornton 3, David A. Weinstein 4, Jacob S. Petersen 5, Pratik Shah 6 and Henrik Thybo Christesen 7, 8. Towards enhanced understanding of idiopathic ketotic hypoglycemia: a literature review and introduction of the patient organization, Ketotic Hypoglycemia International. Drachmann et al. Orphanet J Rare Dis (2021) 16:173. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-021-01797-2

Garg PK, Putegnat B, Truong L, et al. Visual interpretation, not SUV ratios, is the ideal method to interpret 18F-DOPA PET scans to aid in the cure of patients with focal congenital hyperinsulinism. PLoS One. 2020;15(10):e0241243. Published 2020 Oct 27. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241243. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33108363/

Kathryn White 1, Lisa Truong 2, Kimberly Aaron 3, Nasir Mushtaq 4, Paul S Thornton 2 The Incidence and Etiology of Previously Undiagnosed Hypoglycemic Disorders in the Emergency Department. PMID: 30365409. DOI: 10.1097/PEC.0000000000001634. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30365409/

Paul Thornton 1, Lisa Truong 1, Courtney Reynolds 2 3, Tyler Hamby 4, Jonathan Nedrelow 5 Rate of Serious Adverse Events Associated with Diazoxide Treatment of Patients with Hyperinsulinism. PMID: 30889588. DOI: 10.1159/000497458. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30889588/

Paul S Thornton 1, Charles A Stanley 2, Diva D De Leon 2, Deborah Harris 3, Morey W Haymond 4, Khalid Hussain 5, Lynne L Levitsky 6, Mohammad H Murad 7, Paul J Rozance 8, Rebecca A Simmons 9, Mark A Sperling 10, David A Weinstein 11, Neil H White 12, Joseph I Wolfsdorf 13, Pediatric Endocrine Society Recommendations from the Pediatric Endocrine Society for Evaluation and Management of Persistent Hypoglycemia in Neonates, Infants, and Children. PMID: 25957977. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.03.057. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25957977/

Pradeep K Garg 1, Stephen J Lokitz 1, Lisa Truong 2, Burton Putegnat 2, Courtney Reynolds 2, Larry Rodriguez 2, Rachid Nazih 1, Jonathan Nedrelow 2, Miguel de la Guardia 2, John K Uffman 2, Sudha Garg 1, Paul S Thornton 2 Pancreatic uptake and radiation dosimetry of 6-18Ffluoro-L-DOPA from PET imaging studies in infants with congenital hyperinsulinism. PMID: 29117181 PMCID: PMC5695579. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186340. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29117181/

Kai Lee Yap 1 2, Amy E Knight Johnson 1, David Fischer 1, Priscilla Kandikatla 1, Jacea Deml 1, Viswateja Nelakuditi 1, Sara Halbach 1, George S Jeha 3, Lindsay C Burrage 4, Olaf Bodamer 5, Valeria C Benavides 6, Andrea M Lewis 4, Sian Ellard 7, Pratik Shah 8, Declan Cody 9, Alejandro Diaz 10, Aishwarya Devarajan 5, Lisa Truong 11, Siri Atma W Greeley 12, Diva D De Leon 13, Andrew C Edmondson 14, Soma Das 1, Paul Thornton 11, Darrel Waggoner 1, Daniela Del Gaudio 15 Correction: "Congenital hyperinsulinism as the presenting feature of Kabuki syndrome: clinical and molecular characterization of 10 affected individuals". PMID: 30097611. DOI: 10.1038/s41436-018-0126-1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30097611/

Ann W McMahon 1, Gerold T Wharton 1, Paul Thornton 2, Diva D De Leon 3 Octreotide use and safety in infants with hyperinsulinism. PMID: 27910218 PMCID: PMC5286465. DOI: 10.1002/pds.4144. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27910218/
Preneet Cheema Brar 1, Ryan Heksch 2, Kristina Cossen 3, Diva D De Leon 4, Manmohan K Kamboj 5, Seth D Marks 6, Bess A Marshall 7, Ryan Miller 8, Laura Page 9, Takara Stanley 10, Deborah Mitchell 10, Paul Thornton 11 Management and Appropriate Use of Diazoxide in Infants and Children with Hyperinsulinism. PMID: 32810255. DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa543. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32810255/

Ana Paola De Cosio 1, Paul Thornton 2 Current and Emerging Agents for the Treatment of Hypoglycemia in Patients with Congenital Hyperinsulinism. PMID: 31218604. DOI: 10.1007/s40272-019-00334-w. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31218604/

Education

  • Medical school:
  • University College, Dublin, Ireland
  • Residency:
  • Medicine: St. Luke's Hospital and St. Vincent's Hospital
  • Pediatrics: Temple Street Children's Hospital, The National Maternity Hospital, Guys Hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children, and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Board certifications:
  • American Board of Pediatrics
  • Pediatric Endocrinology

Affiliations

  • Pediatric Endocrine Society,Endocrine Society,European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology,American Diabetes Association,Cook Children's Physician Network

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