From Ginny, with Love: Virginia Apgar ’s Yearly Newsletter

Virginia Apgar, M.D. (1909 to 1974,left), visionary anesthesiologist, cultivated both mind and heart to the fullest degree. Born into a musical and inventive family that “never sat down,” Ginny, at age 16, graduated from high school with a dream to become a doctor. In college at Mount Holyoke, she dazzled everyone as an orchestra violinist, theater actress, newspaper reporter, multisport athlete, and scholar extraordinaire—all while waiting tables and catching cats for zoology lab to pay her way through school. In 1929, she matriculated at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; she would graduate fourth in her 90%-male class of 90. And at age 28, she made history by becoming Columbia’s first Director of Anesthesia. But when the res earch-oriented Emanuel Papper, M.D., was recruited to become the new division chief in 1949, the resilient Apgar shifted her focus to obstetric anesthesia. That same year, she would concoct her famous Apgar score during breakfast in the hospital cafeteria! Freed from administrative duties, she also began mailing an annual letter that tripled as a holiday card, department newsletter, and alumni directory to all past and current residents and faculty (upper right). These charming “Ginnygrams” (1950 to 1973), each bearing her signature smiley face (lower right), were recently digitized on the Wood Library-Museum ’s website:https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/archivesvirginia-apgar-md-collection/vac_0...
Source: Anesthesiology - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research