BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
No history would be complete without brief biographical remarks
about a few outstanding figures who spent their lives advancing the art and science
of anesthesiology. Although several individuals could be chosen, three are selected,
each from a different time period and having different areas of interest.
Virginia Apgar
Virginia Apgar (1909–1974) ( Fig.
1-19
) was born in Westfield, New Jersey in 1909. She attended Mt. Holyoke
College and graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
in 1933. After completion of a surgical internship in 1935, she began training in
anesthesiology at Columbia. Further training was obtained in Madison, Wisconsin,
with Ralph Waters and at Bellevue Hospital in New York City with Ernest A. Rovenstein
(1895–1960). In 1938, she was named director of the Division of Anesthesia
at Columbia, one of the first women to hold a prominent leadership position in anesthesiology
in the United States. A separate Department of Anesthesiology was created in 1949
with Emanuel M. Papper as Chairman. This allowed her to spend time on her research
interests, which were directed toward obstetric anesthesia and perinatal resuscitation.
Her greatest research contribution was the development of a scoring
system that evaluated the condition of newborn infants. Presented in 1953 and subsequently
Figure 1-19
Virginia Apgar in a portrait of unknown date but near
the end of her career. (Courtesy of Selma H. Calmes, who obtained the photograph
from the Apgar family.)
named the Apgar score, it is still used worldwide as a routine measure of infant
well-being after birth.[483]
This scoring system
allowed her and others around the world to evaluate the effects of various maternal
analgesic methods on the newborn. One of her early observations was that meperidine
readily crossed the placenta and was capable of depressing the infant. Volatile
anesthetics given to the mother, such as cyclopropane, also depressed the infant,
and this work eventually led to the abandonment of general anesthesia for routine
vaginal delivery.[479]
She was known as an inspirational teacher, with boundless energy.
The research projects that she originated were continued by several of her residents,
including Frank Moya and Sol M. Shnider (1929–1994), both leaders in their
field. George Gregory (1934-) has continued and greatly expanded her work on neonatal
resuscitation.
Although she was an excellent student, early in her training she
was discouraged from entering certain specialties because she was a woman. Fortunately,
her entry into anesthesia was not barred, but she continued to experience sexual
discrimination throughout her life. Partly because of her pioneering efforts and
those of people such as Mary Botsford of San Francisco, anesthesiology has become
a desirable vocation for women.
Virginia Apgar died in 1974 at the age of 65 years. She received
several awards during her life, including being the first woman to be chosen for
the Alumni Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Medicine from Columbia University
and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
In October 1994, a 20-cent stamp was issued in her name in the Great Americans Series
from the United States Postal Service.
