James Tyson Tildon

Background

James Tildon was born on August 7, 1931, in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

Education

Mr. Tildon was a 1950 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. He earned a chemistry degree from Morgan State University in 1954 and a doctorate in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1965. He also had a post-doctoral study at Brandeis University in 1965 - 1967.

Career

James started his career working for five years as a research assistant at Sinai Hospital, where he developed and used biochemical techniques to study vitamin deficiencies in humans and animal models.Tildon returned to Baltimore in 1967 to assume the post of assistant professor in the department of chemistry at Goucher College. The following year he became research assistant professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and, in 1969, assistant professor in the department of biological chemistry. He was a full professor of pediatrics since 1974 and a professor of biological chemistry since 1982. Tildon also served as director of the Carter Clinical Laboratories for six years and director of pediatric research in the medical school’s Department of Pediatrics for nine. In addition, he was a visiting scientist in the Laboratory of Developmental Biochemistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, where he did research in the developmental neurobiology.

Among Tildon’s contributions is the discovery of Coenzyme A Transferase Deficiency in infants. In his research, he demonstrated that the brains of infants use organic molecules called ketone bodies as an energy source during their first several weeks of life, disproving the previously held theory that glucose was the major energy source of the human brain at all ages of life. Tildon was also instrumental in establishing the SIDS Institute at the University of Maryland, one of the largest research programs dedicated to the study of SIDS, a disorder that causes an infant to abruptly stop breathing.

In addition, he has served on several boards of directors, including those of the Mental Health Association of Metropolitan Baltimore, the Maryland Academy of Sciences, and the Associated Black Charities. He also served as chairman of the school board, the Civil Service Commission and the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s board of trustees, all in Baltimore. He died of cancer on February 28, 2006 at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

Achievements

• J. Tyson Tildon, the discoverer of Coenzyme A Tranferase Deficiency, a cause of disease in infants, made major contributions to the establishment of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Institute at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Anglo-Saxon agony 1972
  • Sudden Infant Death Syndrome 1983

Membership

• American Chemical Society

• Association for the Advancement of Science

• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

• Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

• Sigma Xi

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• He was one of Baltimore’s great unsung heroes. In a sense, he gave his gifts to all of us through his service to education.

Connections

In 1988 James married Sania Amr, with whom he had four children: Levia, Jay, Sharon, Sania.

Spouse:

Sania Amr

child:

Levia Tildon

child:

Jay Tildon

child:

Sharon Tildon

child:

Sania Tildon