We’re going through the top 50 doctors who have made a lasting impact on medicine throughout all time—at least according to a heavily read medical magazine which had its “best people” scratch their heads on the matter several months ago.
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Continuing our historical description of the top 50 most influential doctors in history we come to #44, Victor McKusick known as the father of medical genetics. Can you even comprehend what it means to have been the “inventor” or “founder” of an entire field of medicine? I’m not sure I can.
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I think I’ve said something like this before but today’s number 45 of the top 50 physicians making a lasting impact on the field of medicine is known by EVERY pediatrician in the world, and most other physicians too. But that’s the definition of “lasting impact” isn’t it.
In 1949 Dr. Virginia Apgar was the first female full professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and in 1953 went on to create what became known as the “Apgar score.”
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We’ve only just begun, it seems, on our listing of the “50 most influential doctors in history,” a list made some time ago by a medical blog for physicians.
Today we chronicle the man who discerned the true nature of circulation, our number 46 on the list, William Harvey a contemporary of Galileo and Shakespeare and physician to King George of Great Britian.
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A while ago now, I decided to write a series of articles based on a magazine list described as the “top 50 influential doctors in history.”
The list, a big undertaking if not a bit ostentatious; the series of articles, a satisfying and most rewarding ride through the history of my profession – a ride even any parent would find an unexpected and critical benefit.
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Like others in this series of the 50 top physicians of all time, Helen Brooke Taussig is known by every Cardiologist in the world… most Pediatricians too.
You too would do well to get to know of her, if only to grasp a better understanding on how to care for your own children.
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The popular TV series “Gray’s Anatomy” popularizes the name of a seminal breakthrough medical pioneer and his book; but, not one in 100 viewers has a clue about why the series’ title was chosen and who “Dr. Gray” really was.
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I recently followed along for several weeks as a medical information site posted their ranking of the “Top 50 Most Influential Doctors in History.” Despite the fact that I benefitted from their insight and life’s accomplishments nearly every day, I had almost no clue who many of them were.
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I’ve seen a list of the Top 50 Most Influential Physicians of All Time somewhere, I think in a physicians-only magazine called Medscape. It was compiled by physicians, I suppose from some committee somewhere.
Reviewing it, I’d heard of nearly every name on the list save it be a couple, so I typed one or two into Wikipedia to see what they had on the doctor and was pleasingly suprised with the new insight. These people had done amazing things, many against terrible odds, most with huge personal sacrifice and a few barely escaping dangerous backlash and physical hurdles (or not).
I decided to start a historical series myself, explaining in more detail their contribution to the medical care you and I take for granted today. That was more years ago than I’m proud of; but, I’m still struggling to add these tough-to-write posts to this series.
I’m going to take a stab at a posting about another doctor’s observations which seem to have struck me strongly enough that they’ve captured much of my mental “wait cycles” over the past week. You know, the “cycles” of your fast mental computer where it’s “waiting” for other things to “catch up” so it can move on.
Some people call it “time-sharing your brain” others just “day dreaming.”
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Not so long ago, in collaboration with the Washington Post, a clinical news source for physicians called “Medscape” [which I read frequently] ran an article entitled “When Doctors Don’t Do A Good Physical Exam Patients Loose.”
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The earliest thing an infant learns to do, even before talking, is to: Communicate. It is something most of us struggle to perfect; and, are still learning as we close out our lives.
Research tells us that there may be as much Communication without words as with them. (Gestures, touch, body language, etc.)
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