September 1,1994: Vol26n1: Thomas R. Beam, Jr., 48, professor, researcher

Thomas R. Beam, Jr., a professor and researcher in the UB School of
Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and consultant to the U.S. Food &
Drug Administration, died unexpectedly Aug. 17 in his office in the
Buffalo VA Medical Center. He was 48.
	Funeral services were held Aug. 30 in Calvary Episcopal
Church, Williamsville.
	    Beam was an infectious diseases expert known
internationally for his work on drug-resistant bacteria and viruses.
In 1989, he was appointed to direct a two-year innovative project
established by the FDA and Infectious Diseases Society of America to
speed up the FDA's approval process for new antibiotics and to enhance
its monitoring of drugs on the market for early warnings of adverse
effects.
	He also chaired the FDA's Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory
Committee and in 1990, oversaw hearings focusing on proposals for
modifying the FDA's guidelines for approval of new antimicrobial
drugs.
	He was chairman of the Antibiotics Use and Clinical Trials
Committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He was the
editor-in-chief of two national medical journals: Infections in
Medicine and Abstracts in Infectious Disease. 
	A professor in the UB Department of Medicine and an associate
professor in the Department of Microbiology, Beam was chief of the
Buffalo VA Medical Center's infectious diseases section for 11 years,
and was serving as associate chief of staff for education at the
hospital at the time of his death.
	Beam received his bachelor's and medical degrees from the
University of Pennsylvania in 1968 and 1972, respectively. He joined
UB as an instructor in the Department of Medicine in 1974.
	Beam was featured recently in stories about the mounting
problem of drug-resistant bacteria on CBS-TV's "48 Hours" and in a
cover story in Newsweek.
	He was especially concerned about the decreasing resources
allocated for developing new drugs in the fight against
disease-causing organisms at a time when drug-resistant organisms
appear to be proliferating. Beam voiced his concern that half the
pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and Japan had gotten out of the
antibiotic business because they "thought the fight against bacteria
had been won."If the drug companies began full-scale research tomorrow
into new antibiotics, it would still be seven to 10 years before we
might be back in good shape," he emphasized.
	A prolific researcher, Beam authored or co-authored numerous
textbook chapters and articles in professional journals. He was a
reviewer for many professional publications, including the Journal of
the American Medical Association, Journal of Infectious Diseases,
Annals of Pharmacotherapy and American Journal of Kidney Diseases.
	 Beam was a fellow of the American College of Physicians and
the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and was a member of many
professional organizations. 
	Survivors include his wife, Janice; a daughter, Nancy V.; a
son, Thomas R. "Todd", IV; his parents, Thomas R., Sr. and Lillian of
Sarasota, Fla. and a brother, Jeffrey, of  Paramus, N.J.