Hellen Brooke Taussig is a renowned pioneer in pediatric cardiology living in Canada. She is the founder of pediatric cardiology. In 1944, Hellen Brooke partnered with Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas to develop an operation that would correct innate heart complications resulting in the “blue baby” syndrome. After developing this operation, thousands of lives have been saved, and many have gotten the opportunity to live longer. Brooke has also played a significant role in preventing a thalidomide birth problem that was a major problem in the United States. She explained and made it clear to the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S.U.S. on some of the drug’s adverse effects.
Hellen Brooke was born in 1898 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her Father, Frank Taussig, was an economist and professor and Harvard University, and her mother was called Edith guild. Brooke got motivated to become a doctor by her grandfather, who was a physician.
Taussig successfully pursued and excelled in her course at university regardless of suffering from dyslexia. In 1917, she graduated from Cambridge School for girls. Outside class, she was a good tennis player becoming a champion while at Radcliffe.
She attended the University of California at Berkeley, earning a B.A.B.A. degree in 1921. After graduating from Harvard Medical School and Boston University, she decided to study cardiac at John Hopkins University School of Medicine.
After graduating from Hopkins University in 1927, she served at John Hopkins Hospital as a cardiology fellow and intern for two years. In 1930, she was promoted to head of St John Children Heart clinic pediatric unit. She held this position from 1930 to 1963.
By the end of her cardiology course at St John Hopkins Medical School, Taussig was completely deaf; hence used lip-reading and hearing aids while working. One of her significant innovations in pediatric cardiology is her ability to differentiate a normal heartbeat to an abnormal heartbeat by touch.
As stated earlier, Hellen Tuareg established pediatric cardiology to find a solution to “blue baby” syndrome that hindered the Heart from getting enough oxygen. Hellen Brooke managed to prove that children suffering from anoxemia have a leaking septum. After partnering with Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas, their results were published in the American Medical Association Journal. Their approach to carry out this operation was named the Blalock Taussig operation and was borrowed by many in the medical field. In 1947, Taussig published the Congenital malformation of the Heart that entailed her congenital cardiac disabilities research.
Hellen Taussig has been given several awards and honors for her contribution in the medical field. For instance, in 1954, she got the Prestigious Lasker Award; she was given this award basing on the successful blue baby operation. In 1956, Hellen Brooks recorded a history after being awarded a full professorship at Hopkins Medical school. In 1956, she was elected the American Heart Association president, and in 1964, she got the Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson.
