Charles Peterson M.D.

Peterson
Charles Peterson MD (Age 82) Physician/Scientist
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Charles Peterson, 82, of Potomac, MD. Chuck passed away June 10, 2025 at GWU Hospital of metastatic neck cancer. Chuck was a beloved husband, father, mentor, and friend who will be remembered for his intellect, wisdom, and wit.
Chuck was born in New York, New York in 1943 to Dr. Charles W. Peterson and Dr. Elisabeth Marquis. He and his late sister, Martha, were raised in Seattle, WA. For his High School education, Chuck attended Westtown School in West Chester, PA. There, he deeply connected with his peers and developed an appreciation for Quaker values. Till the end of his life, Chuck regularly had video calls with his Westtown classmates with whom he maintained a rare and unique lifelong bond. He received his B.A. from Carleton College and his M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. While at Columbia, he was the recipient of an International Fellowship from the School of International and Public Affairs as well as a Smith Kline and French Fellowship for study and work in Bolivia. He trained in Internal Medicine, serving as Chief Medical Resident at Harlem Hospital and Rockefeller University Hospital and later served on the faculty of Rockefeller for 11 years. Dr. Peterson was Director of Research/Medical Director and ultimately CEO of the Sansum Medical Research Institute in Santa Barbara, California. Here, he met and married his wife, Karen, and welcomed their first child, Caroline, in 1997. After moving to Maryland, Chuck became the Director of the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). In 2000, Chuck and Karen welcomed their second child, Christopher. In 2008, Dr. Peterson joined the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) at the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, and Senior Advisor to the latter through 2016. After "failing to retire," as he liked to joke, Chuck served as President of MarquiSci, LLC, and Acting Chief Medical Officer at Critical Link LLC. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Peterson became board certified in addiction medicine and became the Medical Director at the Hagerstown Treatment Center for Opioid Use Disorders. In the last years of his life, he worked to help create a company, Avalyra, to further develop and market a device for noninvasive blood monitoring.
Over his extraordinary professional career, with over 400 publications and 15 patents to his name, some highlights include developing orphan drugs for sickle cell disease and thalassemia; demonstrating for the first time that hemoglobin A1c could be used as a measure of longer term "control" in diabetes mellitus and developing hemoglobin A1c assays for use in clinics; the observation that patient self-monitored glucose values along with hemoglobin A1c values could be used as two independent means of quantifying "control"; documentation that improved glucose levels improve outcome of pregnancy in women with diabetes and reverse several pathologies associated with the disease; development of an assay that has been used to determine levels of alcohol consumption over time, and the first use of atomic force microscopy to visualize cells.
Throughout his life, Chuck brought joy and laughter into the lives of everyone he met. He dedicated his life to helping others. The loss of such an extraordinary person is immeasurable, but his memory will continue to live on in those who were blessed to know him. Chuck is survived by his wife, Karen, his stepson, Alex, and his children Caroline and Christopher.
As his friend Rev. Jim Littrell so beautifully shared, "His was a life that seems to me to have reached far beyond any narrow confines to embrace and enrich with his focus, creativity, compassion and pure brainpower all kinds of people and a huge swath of the human community."
A memorial service is currently being arranged by the family. Details will be released soon on the Going Home Cremation website.