Catherine DeAngelis: The Tireless Champion of Human Rights in Medicine
Knocking down the many obstacles preventing women from receiving fair treatment
Distinguished Service Professor Emerita and Professor Emerita at the Schools of Medicine and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, Catherine DeAngelis, PhD, has had much success knocking down the many obstacles preventing women (and other groups) from receiving fair treatment. But like her career in medicine, that success didn’t come easily.
Pursuing Equity in Medicine
Though she grew up poor in a Pennsylvania coal-mining town, Dr. DeAngelis credits her father for supporting her interest in becoming a doctor—something that was not just unusual for the time, but, according to Dr. DeAngelis, unusual considering her father’s background. She says, “…he was an Italian man, and he—you would expect him to sort of be dominant and stuff. But he was funny because he’d say to me over and over and over, he said, ‘You don’t let anybody push you around.’ He said, ‘You’re a girl, but you’re just as smart and as wonderful as any boy,’ and I was convinced of that. I never doubted that a minute because he reassured me and he showed me.”
Bolstered by her father’s encouragement, Dr. DeAngelis attended Wilkes University, where she worked as a nurse in the college’s infirmary while also gaining valuable immunology experience in the school’s lab. From there, she went on to earn both a medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine and a master's degree in public health from the Harvard Graduate School of Public Health (focusing on Health Services Administration)—not to mention seven honorary doctorate degrees.
She then completed her training in pediatrics at The Johns Hopkins Hospital—an ironic turn as the university had previously rejected her medical school application. But perhaps her biggest accomplishment was ultimately serving as the first woman Editor-in-Chief Emerita of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The Human Side of Medicine
One of more remarkable things about Dr. DeAngelis is her character. Despite all of her degrees, successes, and awards—and despite her dogged pursuit of knowledge and meticulous research—she’s kept a laser-like focus on the human rights of patients, medical professionals, and the less fortunate. She’s never lost touch with the human side of medicine, as is evidenced in a comment she made in a 2020 interview:
“I teach men that it’s okay to cry, that only humans cry. Animals do everything we do, but only humans cry. And I love the Bishop Romero who said some things can only be seen through eyes that have cried. And that’s a special emotion I think that God gives to humans. Think about when you’ve cried if you’re in pain, if you’re hurting emotionally, if you see something beautiful... I mean just think about it when you get teary eyed, and that tells you a lot about who you are.”
Awards & Accolades
To date, Dr. DeAngelis has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, in addition to authoring or editing 12 books on pediatrics, medical education, patient care, and professionalism. She currently serves on the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s advisory board, the board of Physicians for Human Rights, and the board of trustees of the University of Pittsburgh. In 2007, Dr. DeAngelis received the Alma Dea Morani Renaissance Woman in Medicine Award and continues to serve as a board member. She’s also received awards for humanitarianism and excellence, including the Ronald McDonald Award of Medical Excellence (which included a $100,000 donation to the Johns Hopkins Child Life Program), the Catcher in the Rye Award for Humanitarianism, and a lifetime achievement award by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).
She’s a former council member and current member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in the U.K. She’s also served as an officer of multiple national academic societies. And since this hasn’t kept her busy enough, she published a memoir entitled Pursuing Equity in Medicine: One Woman’s Journey in 2016.
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