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Helen Brooke Tausig discovered a surgical procedure for treating "blue babies". She proved that "blue babies" died of not enough circulation to the lungs rather than cardiac arrest. She became known a  s the founder of
pediatric cardiology for her discovery . In 1961 she investigated
that a lot of birth defects in Germany were caused by the drug
Thalidomide which she stopped from being sold in the
United States. Tausig was born on May 24,1898 in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was the youngest of four children in
her family. Her father was an
economist and her mother who was
interested in natural sciences died when Helen was 11 years old. She
worked hard to overcome
dyslexia and to excel in school. She went on
to college at Johns Hopkins University where she studied heart disease and developed the blue
baby surgery called Blalock-Tausig shunt. She and Alfred Blalock did the
first surgery in 1944. The surgery saved thousands of children.
Her accomplishments did not end there. She received the Medal of Freedom from the President. Just one year later she was the first woman to become the president of the American Heart Association. She continued to be involved in children's health issues after retiring. She spoke up for scientists to be able to use animals in experimental studies and started studying heart problems of unborn babies and the hearts of birds. She died in May 21, 1986 in an automobile accident. |