100 Years of the Department of Pediatrics | Cincinnati Children's

https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org How did we get here… from here? We officially opened in March 1994 with 4 volunteer doctors, 1 nurse and 12 beds. The Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church served 38 children, without fee, in its first year. “A child is not a little man” Benjamin Knox Rachford, MD Influenced by Frederick Forchheimer, MD, Benjamin Knox Rachford, MD, was the first physician in Cincinnati to devote his practice to children and was appointed the first chair of Pediatrics at UC College of Medicine in 1901. Our official affiliation with UC’s College of Medicine began in 1926. That was also the year Cincinnati Children’s residency program was accredited. Arch Irwin Carson, MD, President of the Medical Staff, 1908-1917 Carson was a prominent surgeon. He was noted as being the father of UC football and is in the UC athletic Hall of Fame. In her 1909 annual report, Governess (Head Nurse) A. Eliza Gordon recounted “teaching 560 boys and 499 girls, mending 31,058 garments, sewed on 19,920 buttons, mated 9,951 pairs of stockings, and recited 1,889 stories on Fridays." Mary Emery, William Cooper Procter, Albert Graeme, MD, The trio that started it all and got the modern department of pediatrics off to a good start. The B.K. Rachford Professor & Chair of Pediatrics was endowed by Cincinnati philanthropist Mary Emery in 1920. The hospital’s second home in 1887 was on Mason Street near Christ Hospital in Mount Auburn, with 20 beds and two wards. In 1927, the new hospital was lauded by architect W.H. Sears as “superior to all others” and “best in the United States” for its “contemporary architecture” “Things don’t just happen. You make them happen” William Cooper Procter, President of the Children’s Hospital Board of Trustees, 1921-1924 “This (still functional) American Optical manual microtome was used at Cincinnati Children’s nearly 100 years ago. It cut extremely think slices of material, known as sections, allowing preparation of samples for observation.” Kenneth Blackfan, MD The first B.K Rachford Professor & Chair of Pediatrics, 1922-1923. Before leaving for Harvard, Blackfan was instrumental in recruiting Dr. Albert Graeme Mitchell. Albert Graeme Mitchell, MD The second B.K. Professor & Chair of Pediatrics, 1924-1941. Mitchell emphasized research and practice while overseeing the planning and staffing of the new Children’s Hospital. Robert Lyon, MD, was Mitchell’s second full-time appointment and became one of the most important contributors to pediatric healthcare in Cincinnati Waldo Nelson, MD, Mitchell’s third full-time appointment, took over the role of editor of the Textbook of Pediatrics.. Children’s Hospital was the first pediatric hospital with a building dedicated to research, In 1928, Procter gifted $2.5M ($38M today) to build and endow a Research Foundation. “This facility will be a beacon of light to men and women who are seeking to blaze a trail for child health.” President Herbert Hoover, May 1931 Ruth Lyons, a local icon and trailblazer for women in broadcasting, created the Ruth Lyons Children’s Fund in 1939 to provide toys and cheer for patients at Cincinnati Children’s and area hospitals. Those efforts continue to this day. Josef Warkany, MD, was among the first to join the new Research Foundation, arriving in 1932 from Vienna. He is known as the “Father of Teratology” (the study of birth defects). Samuel Rapoport, MD, joined the Research Foundation in 1937 from Vienna and perfected a preservation for whole blood, which was used by the military in WWII. Albert Sabin, MD, was hired as director of Virology and went on to discover the oral polio vaccine in the late 1950s. Thousands of families came to Cincinnati Children’s for the free polio vaccine on “Sabin Sunday” – April 24, 1960 A. Ashley Weech, MD The third B.K. Rachford Professor & Chair of Pediatrics, 1942-1963. Weech got us through the shortages of WWII and recruited Katie Dodd, MD, from Vanderbilt and division directors for many emerging pediatric subspecialties Frederic Silverman, MD, was part of Dr. Weech’s Dream Team and led Radiology from 1947-1975. In 1943, Katherine Dodd, MD, became the first woman to hold a full-time faculty position. In the 1950s, Cincinnati Children’s became a leader in open-heart surgery. The bubble-defoam oxygenator heart-lung machine helped the team perform the first open-heart surgery in 1952. In 1957, Lester Martin, MD, joined as first director of Pediatric Surgery. He performed the first pediatric kidney transplant in the state of Ohio and the first liver transplant at Cincinnati Children’s. “I know of no disease that got worse because someone studied it” Edward Pratt, MD Edward Pratt, MD The fourth B.K. Rachford Professor and Chair of Pediatrics, 1963-1979. Pratt consolidated all pediatric care and residency training and invigorated the Research Foundation. (MORE TEXT)