What is Medicirc?

Dr. Edgar J. Schoen is a leading medical expert in the field of infant circumcision. He has written extensively on the topic in peer reviewed journals and previously held the position of Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Circumcision.

Dr. Schoen was born in New York in 1925 and is currently a Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Schoen also holds positions at Children’s Hospital of the East Bay in Oakland, CA, and the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, CA. He is Board-certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Endocrinology, and has practiced Pediatrics and Pediatric Endocrinology in Oakland, CA for 46 years. Dr. Schoen was Chief of Pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland for 24 years.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and Medical degree from New York University in 1948. He completed his pediatric residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston in 1954. He served in the U.S. Navy as a flight surgeon during the Korean War (1950-52).

His training includes: Clinical & Research Fellow in Metabolic Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital (1949-1950), and Postdoctoral Fellow in Steroid Biochemistry at the University of Utah College of Medicine (1960-1961).

Dr. Schoen’s research interests are in screening procedures, pediatric endocrinology (particularly growth, sexual development and thyroid disorders of children), circumcision, childhood lead poisoning, and health care delivery to children. A recent sampling of his extensive bibliography includes such articles as “Circumcision and Informed Consent”, Dialogues in Pediatric Urology, 1994; “Second Trimester Chorionic Gonadotropin Concentrations and Complications and Outcome of Pregnancy”, New England Journal of Medicine, 1999; “New Policy on Circumcision – Cause for Concern”, Pediatrics, March 2000; “The Highly Protective Effect of Newborn Circumcision Against Invasive Penile Cancer”, Pediatrics, March 2000; “Newborn Circumcision Decreases Incidence and Costs of Urinary Tract Infections During the First Year of Life”, Pediatrics, April 2000; and “The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Thyroid Negative Feedback Control Axis in Children with Treated Congenital Hypothyroidism”, J Clin Endocrinol Metab 85, 2000.

Dr. Schoen is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, and the American Pediatric Society and is a founding member of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, among other professional groups.