Linda A. Baker, M.D.
Dr. Baker is a Board-certified pediatric urologist specializing in the surgical reconstruction and study of complex congenital birth defects of the genitourinary tract.
Education
Dr. Baker received her medical degree from the University of Louisville Medical School in 1989 and performed her urology residency at the University of Virginia from 1989-1995. She was an American Foundation for Urological Disease Research Scholar from 1995-1997, studying the molecular basis of renal and genitourinary development. From 1997-1999, she was a Fellow in Pediatric Urology at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution.
She joined the Department of Urology at UT Southwestern in 1999 and created a thriving research program in pediatric urology. She became Director of Pediatric Urology Research in 2001 after receiving her first NIH R01 and was promoted to Professor of Urology in 2008. Currently, she is the Interim Chief of Pediatric Urology at UT Southwestern and Children’s Medical Center.
She holds secondary faculty appointments in the UT Southwestern McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development/Genetics, the Charles and Jane Pak Center for Mineral Metabolism and Clinical Research, and the Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Genetics and Development Graduate Program.
Professional Activities and Awards
Dr. Baker has served on numerous NIH study sections, and several NIH planning committees, and is active in the American Urological Association Foundation Research Council and the Society for Pediatric Urology Research Advisory Council. She is a reviewer for many journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine. Since 2012, she has served on the American Urological Association (AUA) Guidelines Panel for Cryptorchidism, co-authoring the treatment guidelines statement.
She has been faculty on several national training courses for laparoscopic or robotic surgery, has a medical device patent, and has held 18 visiting professorships nationally and internationally. She has authored 120 published abstracts, 20 book chapters, 6 invited review articles, and 97 peer-reviewed publications.
She is the Course Director for the annual international training course webinar "Vaginoplasty for Birth Defects of Surgical Complications and the Oral Buccal Mucosa Technique."
She has received many awards, most recently the 2014 John W. Duckett, MD Pediatric Urology Research Excellence Award given by the AUA Urology Care Foundation.
Clinical Work
As a Board-certified pediatric urologist, Dr. Baker specializes in the surgical reconstruction of complex congenital birth defects of the genitourinary tract, including prune belly syndrome, disorders of sexual development, undescended testes (cryptorchidism), testicular torsion, and congenital vaginal anomalies.
Research
An NIH-funded investigator, Dr. Baker directs her molecular biology research program spanning basic science, translational and clinical research on pediatric genitourinary diseases and congenital defects. The major goals of this research are to understand the genetic, embryonic, and molecular basis of rare and common birth defects including prune belly syndrome, female reproductive anomalies, VACTERL association, hypospadias, anorectal malformations, bladder exstrophy, and epispadias. Her laboratory also works to delineate hormonal and molecular mechanisms mediating cryptorchidism and testicular torsion and uses translational genetic methods to study pediatric urolithiasis.
Using genetically engineered mouse models, her research laboratory studies the causes of pediatric urological birth defects. With a personalized medicine approach, her research team recruits individuals with pediatric urological birth defects and disorders and performs cutting-edge DNA testing using next-generation sequencing technologies to discover the cause of pediatric urological disorders and birth defects, thus achieving bench-to-bedside research.
Dr. Baker lives in Southlake with her husband, Ken, and children Amanda and Andrew.