Avery, Mary Ellen (1927–)
Avery, Mary Ellen (1927–)
American pediatrician. Born May 6, 1927, in Camden, New Jersey; father was a Pennsylvania manufacturer and mother was vice-principal of a high school; graduate of Wheaton College, summa cum laude, with a degree in chemistry, 1948; 1 of only 4 women to graduate from Johns Hopkins University medical school in 1952.
Discovered and developed artificial surfactant and glucocorticoid treatment for infant respiratory distress syndrome (RDS); after being diagnosed with tuberculosis (1952), specialized in pulmonary disease; completed residency and internship in pediatrics; studied premature infants with RDS (formerly hyaline membrane disease) on a Harvard Medical School research fellowship; worked with Harvard School of Public Health professor Dr. Jere Mead to study origins of fluid that normally lines lungs on healthy babies; studied the research of Dr. John A. Clements and then correctly hypothesized that surfactant is necessary to retain air in lungs and that its lack causes premature babies' lungs to collapse; established discipline known as "metabolism of the lung"; served as physician-in-chief of Boston's Children's Hospital (1974–85) and as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1994) and became its president (2003). Received National Medal of Science (1991) and Harvard University's Thomas Morgan Rotch Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics.