ACADEMIC PEDIATRICS - THE VIEW FROM NEW-YORK-CITY A CENTURY AGO

Pediatrics arose as an academic and medical specialty in the United St ates during the late nineteenth century. This paper documents the firs t three stages of academic pediatrics in the United States between 185 0 and 1950: (1) 1850-1880, a period that focused on sanitary reform as a means of reducing infant mortality; (2) 1880-1900, the era where di scoveries being made in bacteriology, physiology, and nutrition began to be applied to improving the health of children; and (3) 1900-1930, when the field was characterized by an active health reform movement d irected at parents and health care professionals. Three prominent pion eer pediatricians, Drs, Abraham Jacobi, Henry Koplik, and L. Emmett Ho lt, are profiled as representative practitioners of these eras.