Helen Brooke Taussig
Personal Information
Born: 1898
Died: 1986
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Radcliffe/Harvard University-2 years of undergraduate classes before transferring to UC Berkely; Boston University-classes in histology bacteriology & anatomy; UC Berkely AB 1921; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine MD 1927
Professional Life
Field of Study: Pediatric Cardiology
Institution/Corporation: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; Harriet Lane Home of Johns Hopkins
Degrees & Memberships: Holds over 20 honorary degrees; Member: American Heart Association (1st female & 1st pediatrician elected President 1965) Phi Beta Kappa; Fellow American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1957); Fellow American College of Cardiology (1960); National Academy of Sciences (1973); American Philosophical Society (1973); American Pediatric Society; Society for Pediatric Research; American College of Physicians; National Academy of Arts & Sciences (1976)
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1947 SPR E. Mead Johnson Award; 1954 Albert Lasker Award; 1964 Medal of Freedom; 1970 Elizabeth Blackwell Award Hobart & William Smith Colleges; 1971 John Howland Award American Pediatric Society; 1927-1930 2 Archibald Fellowships; 1947 Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur; 1948 Passano Foundation Award (with Alfred Blalock); 1953 Honorary Medal American College of Chest Physicians; 1954 Feltrinelli Award; 1957 Eleanor Roosevelt Achievement Award; 1963 Gold Heart Award; 1963 Achievement Award American Association of University Women; 1973 National Women's Hall of Fame; 1976 Milton S. Eisenhower Medal Johns Hopkins; 1982 Elizabeth Blackwell Medal American Medical Women's Association; the following are named after her-a cardiac clinic at the University of Gottingen at Johns Hopkins a college at the School of Medicine & a heart disease clinic and a research award
Achievements: "founded the field of pediatric cardiology; lost her hearing at age 32 & relied on lip-reading & hearing aids; was dyslexic; published landmark book ""Congenital Malformations of the Heart"" in 1947; due to her deafness developed a technique to diagnose heart conditions by feeling the heartbeat with her fingertips instead of a stethoscope"
Was partially deaf due to an ear infection in childhood & was fully deaf as an adult (age 32)
Pioneer in the field of pediatric cardiology
Credited with the development of treatment for Tetralogy of Fallot (most common cause of blue baby syndrome) using the Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunt she created with alfred Blalock &n Vivien Thomas, her colleagues at Johns Hopkins Hospital
Used lip-reading & hearing aids; developed a method of using her finger tips rather than a stethoscope to feel the rhythm of heartbeats
1st female elected head of the American Heart Association
Developed TB as a child & was ill for several years
Was dyslexic
Tried to enroll at Harvard Medical School but they didn't award MDs to women at the time; took histology, bacteriology, & anatomy at Boston College before transferring to Johns Hopkins Medical School where she obtained her MD in 1927
Advocated for the use of animals in medical research, legalized abortion, & the benefits of palliative care & hospice