Bold Women of Medicine by Susan M. Latta

Author:Susan M. Latta
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2017-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Helen Taussig examines a baby, 1980. The Alan Chesney Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

Dr. Alfred Blalock’s skilled hands, paired with Helen’s and Vivien Thomas’s research, led the way to a miracle: blue babies were turning pink. Although the surgery became known as the Blalock-Taussig shunt, it succeeded as much through Vivien’s detailed research as through Alfred’s and Helen’s own skill. Vivien was African American, and many thought he didn’t get adequate credit for that reason. The procedure eventually saved an estimated 12,000 children. Helen’s medical students were so impressed with her compassion and knowledge of the human heart that they called themselves “the knights of Taussig.”

Even with all she accomplished, the accolades would have been greater had she been a man. She said in the book Particular Passions, “Over the years I’ve gotten recognition for what I did, but I didn’t at the time. It hurt for a while. It hurt when Dr. Blalock was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and I didn’t even get promoted from an assistant professor to associate professor. Dr. Park always said, ‘It’s not your rank, it’s what you do that counts’ and he was right.”

Helen was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 with the citation stating, “Physician, physiologist and embryologist, her fundamental concepts have made possible the modern surgery of the heart which enables countless children to lead productive lives.” She served as the American Heart Association’s first female president.

Helen died in a car accident on May 20, 1986, a few days before her 88th birthday. Her legacy lives on in the founding of pediatric cardiology and the blue-baby operation, turning many blue babies a lovely shade of pink.

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