Dr. Stuart James Updike

1935 - 2025

Dr. Stuart James Updike

March 20, 1935 - January 26, 2025

Dr. Stuart J. Updike died peacefully at home in the company of loving family, in Madison, WI on January 26, 2025.

Born and raised in Scarsdale, NY, Dr. Updike was a graduate of Edgemont School, Scarsdale High School (53) and Colgate University (57). He married Wisconsin poet Karen Updike (née Lokvam) in 1959. Dr. Updike received his M.D. from the University of Rochester and spent his entire medical career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (emeritus in 2003).

For over 40 years he balanced multiple roles at the UW Hospital. Best known for his 1967 Nature article describing a glucose measuring enzyme electrode, Dr. Updike ran a biomedical engineering laboratory that pioneered the development of modern continuous glucose sensors for diabetics. Along with engineering colleagues Mark C. Shults and Christopher C. Capelli, electrochemist Rathbun K. Rhodes and veterinarian Barbara J. Gilligan, he developed the sensor technology now used by over 50% of Type I diabetics in the US and 75% in selected single-payer countries. The sensor technology was sold to Dexcom (DXCM) in 1999.

As a practicing doctor of Internal Medicine, he worked in the UW Nephrology, Hypertension, and Dialysis clinics and at the VA treating patients with kidney conditions often caused by diabetes. Respected as a gifted diagnostician, he and his nephrology colleagues also were called upon to identify or cure rare illnesses, leading to invaluable articles in medical journals.

Dr. Updike is named as inventor in over 70 patents, including the Dexcom sensor technology, the Markwell insulin Pen Pump and the Cook Medical peritoneal dialysis sets. A keen interest in telemetry also led Dr. Updike to publish 1960s era articles describing potential biomedical solutions, including the concept of remote cardiac monitoring.

Above all, he loved teaching, mentoring, and recruiting medical students. His success in juggling lab work, clinical work and raising a family often helped inspire candidates to choose the UW over other medical schools.

Dr. Updike was a strong advocate for better insurance coverage for preventing diabetes complications via glucose control. On occasion he testified before legislative bodies and insurance commissions. He was also focused on funding lobbying efforts to ensure that physicians put into practice the lessons of the landmark 1987 DCCT Diabetes study by actually teaching the benefits of "tight glucose control" to their patients.

After retirement, Dr. Updike became keenly interested in funding research into the role of glucose in human aging (glucose as an aldehyde, excessive glycosylation of proteins). He remained a critic of Big Pharma and an advocate for single payer healthcare.

In addition to his duties at the UW-Madison hospital, Dr. Updike also served as a physician in the Army National Guard, and for 25 years volunteered as doctor-in-residence at Camp Dudley, a New York YMCA camp, where he was once a camper and a counselor. He loved helping young people find and develop their inner strengths and qualities. A local baseball star in high school, he later coached a Sub-Zero sponsored T-ball team in Nakoma.

Stu relished Madison-area tennis and golf. Prior to starting his busy workdays, 6 a.m. court time at the A.C. Nielson Tennis Center was a favorite routine for Dr. Updike and his friends. In his early years, he was a member of the John Powless Tennis Center and the Nakoma Golf Club.

Always a tinkerer and inventor, he loved working in junk yards as a boy. He enjoyed building early DIY "HeathKit" television and stereo sets and improvising contraptions.

His other love was jazz. Playing the piano helped him decompress from clinical practice and laboratory research. He was an accomplished swing stride player who enjoyed the stylings of pianists like Bill Evans and Dave Brubeck.

Dr. Updike was pre-deceased by his sister, Frances (Frankie) Updike Simonds, who helped to found and run the MD/PhD program at the University of Michigan; his parents Stuart Northall and Edyth (née Kirk) Updike; and his treasured Sally Ricks who was a great comfort, compass, and cheerleader following the untimely passing of his mother at age 7.

Dr. Updike is survived by his wife of 65 years, Karen Updike (née Lokvam); his children Kaia, Kimball and Erika Updike; his brother Charles Updike and sister-in-law Beth Kaufman; his sister and brother-in-law Kirsten and Erie Chapman; his brothers-in-law Scott Simonds and Chris Lokvam; his nieces Edith Updike (Ben), Nancy Updike (Dan), and Tia Pierotti (Alberto); his nephew Tyler Chapman (Jen); grand nieces and nephews Nicholas, Miles, Sonia, Linus, Caroline, and Reed; his much adored Ezequiel Abadi; his dear caregiver and friend Roz Hart; many step-nieces and nephews, and countless other friends.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on April 6th at the First Unitarian Society of Madison.

Memorial donations in Stu's honor may be made to: Doctors Without Borders, ACLU, or Camp Dudley.