Dr. Richard Keller, a pediatric endocrinologist who was charged last week with receiving child pornography, signed an agreement with the state medical board Wednesday to stop practicing medicine.

Keller agreed that he would not treat patients for an indefinite period, until the board takes further action on his case. Keller, who is being held in jail, is scheduled for a federal court detention hearing on Friday.

Voluntary agreements “are the way the board makes sure the public is protected while giving itself time to complete an investigation,’’ said Russell Aims, spokesman for the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, which licenses doctors. If Keller had not signed the agreement, the board could have suspended his license.

Keller, a Boston Children’s Hospital endocrinologist and former medical director of ­Phillips Academy in Andover, was charged in federal court Sept. 13 with receiving child pornography after more then 500 photographs and at least 60 DVDs were found during a search of his Andover home, federal prosecutors said.

Keller is required to provide the agreement within 24 hours to any licensed facility in which he has practiced medicine.