Martha Wollstein of Babies Hospital in New York City (1868–1939)—The First North American Pediatric Pathologist

Martha Wollstein: A pioneer American female clinician-scientist

“…We recently published a paper in a specialty journal positing that Martha Wollstein was the first fully specialized pediatric perinatal pathologist practicing exclusively in a North American children's hospital. 4 She was the pathologist of record at Babies Hospital in New York City, where she worked from 1891 until her retirement in 1935. Her full scope of pathology practice at Babies Hospital included anatomical pathology, microbiology, hematology, and some chemistry, and she also worked for a number of years at the prestigious Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.…”

“…Martha was also a prolific clinician-scientist who published over 65 papers during her career on a wide range of topics, including her research on pediatric and infectious diseases. 4 While our prior paper describes some of Wollstein's professional accomplishments as a pediatric pathologist and established her priority in the field, the current essay explores the personal life, upbringing, and beliefs that allowed her to succeed as an early academic woman clinician-scientist. Her lifelong commitment to medicine and science was facilitated, in part, by her Jewish religious and ethnic background, which fostered great respect for education and the field of medicine, in particular, and her parents' elevated financial and social status, which allowed her to devote herself to her career instead of having to worry about economic self-sufficiency.…”

“…Later in her career, her focus became more clinically oriented and her pediatric pathology papers were highly cited. 4 The Wollsteins were very active in the German Jewish Reform community of their day. Louis served as a trustee of Temple Beth El, an upper class German Reform synagogue at Fifth Avenue and 76th Street in Manhattan, and he moved in rather exalted circles.…”

Pioneer in Pediatric Pathology: William A (Bill) Newton Jr (1923–)

“…7 Eleven years before this, Dorothy Andersen of Babies Hospital in New York City had first described its pancreatic pathology and determined that it was a different entity than celiac syndrome. 8,9 According to Google Scholar, Newton and Zuelzer's paper was cited 192 times, an astronomical number for a paper published before 1950. Next, Newton published 3 papers on pediatric renal pathology with his mentor.…”

Scoring the First Goal

“…Following surgery, she developed pneumonia and died three weeks later. 1 At autopsy, purulent bronchitis, pneumonia, and lung abscesses (particularly in the right middle lobe) associated with Staphylococcus aureus were present, along with hypertrophy of the right side of the heart. Andersen noted that "a prolonged search for the pancreatic duct revealed only a small duct which extended 8 mm from the ampulla and was then lost in fibrous tissue" [3].…”