Dr. Potts is Physician-in-Chief Emeritus and Director of Research Emeritus at MGH. He received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1957 and completed his internship and residency at MGH. Following completion of his medical training in 1959, he joined the National Institutes of Health as a Clinical Associate and remained there until 1968. During his tenure, he was promoted to Head of the Section on Polypeptide Hormones where he began his work on the structural analysis of parathyroid hormone and calcitonins. Dr. Potts subsequently returned to MGH where he has served initially as Chief of Endocrinology then in 1981 as the Chairman of the Department of Medicine, and Physician-in-Chief and then in 1996 Director of Research. He was appointed as the Jackson Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School from 1981 to 1996 and now serves as Jackson Distinguished Professor of Medicine.
Dr. Potts has been a pioneer in the chemistry and biology of parathyroid hormone (PTH) and its role in clinical disorders of bone and mineral ion metabolism. His career spans more than 50 years of distinguished service in science and medicine. The author or coauthor of more than 500 scientific publications, Dr. Potts has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds active and honorary memberships in numerous scientific and professional organizations and also serves as a consultant for and/or board member on several biotechnology and clinical diagnostic companies.