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06.06.03

The story behind Blackfan
 

n June 11, Children’s Alumni Association celebrated its 100th anniversary by presenting the 50th annual Blackfan Lecture. This nationally recognized lectureship, delivered by Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University, honored Kenneth D. Blackfan, MD, Children’s fourth physician-in-chief.

Blackfan was born in 1883 in New York’s Hudson Valley region, became a doctor in 1905 and worked as a general practitioner with his father until 1909. The young doctor had a robust curiosity about the future of medicine, and eventually left his family’s practice for a succession of residencies in pediatric medicine. Blackfan came to Harvard and Children’s Hospital in Boston in 1923.

A quiet and unpretentious man, Blackfan had an incredible memory for clinical detail and was an unparalleled bedside teacher. While maintaining a steady interest in the various specialties of medicine, particularly in hematology, neonatology and what he called “chronic” or “acute nutritional disturbances,” he emphasized the essential attention to details of history and physical examination with his students.

Blackfan fully recognized the importance of research and laboratory work to patient care—not only within the hospital, but to the practice of medicine in general. His research in a variety of areas, such as environmental temperatures and relative humidity and their effects on the health of infants, was especially influential. His work led Children’s and the Infants’ Hospital to develop a shared interest and specialty in premature infants.

It was not Blackfan’s way to seek out fame and recognition for his accomplishments, and the implications of his contributions to pediatrics were not felt until much later. Although he published little under his own name, he did contribute to numerous articles and papers, claiming no credit for himself.

At 58, at the height of his career as a teacher and physician, Blackfan developed lung cancer and died in 1941. The Alumni Association was proud to carry his memory forward with the annual Blackfan Lecture.