A Remembrance of Mary Ellen Avery, M.D.

Frontiers in Pediatrics

Julie R. Ingelfinger¹ 

关键词: mentors;    mentoring;    pediatrics;    leadership;    commentary;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fped.2014.00019

学科分类：儿科学

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

I was a recently hired member of the newly established Division of Pediatric Nephrology and an Instructor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School when Mel Avery became the Chief of the Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at Children’s in 1974. There was excitement, as Dr. Avery’s appointment was a “first” unfolding right in front of those of us who, as young women physicians, hoped to have careers in academic pediatrics, and anticipatory talk filled the corridors of Children’s. On her arrival, Mel Avery was an automatic role model for the women among the faculty. She had made a major scientific discovery that a lack of surfactant caused respiratory distress syndrome in neonates, and she was still young (in her mid-forties), with abundance of energy. I was delighted and proud to have a woman, and one so accomplished, become the Physician-in-Chief at Children’s. Her hiring and her achievements allowed us to see that a woman could have a prominent role in academic medicine. The sense I had as a young faculty member was that Dr. Avery expected hard work and dedication, which was a self-selected trait among those women in the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s. So, the fit for us was a good one.

【 授权许可】

CC BY