Dr. Virginia Apgar, a Trailblazer in Newborn Health
Image via the US National Library of Medicine
“Women are liberated from the time they leave the womb.”
Around the world, 360,000 babies are born each day and most of them are immediately evaluated through the Apgar Score, a measure of newborn health developed by Virginia Apgar, MD, in 1952.
Although she is best known for her work involving babies, Dr. Apgar was a pioneer who blazed several trails. She spoke out against the pay gap between male and female physicians. She advocated for the early detection of birth defects. She was the first woman to achieve full professor status at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
As a teenager, she was known for boundless energy, a trait she would demonstrate throughout life. Her notation in her high school yearbook summed it up: “Frankly, how does she do it?”
Cobbling together a string of scholarships and part-time jobs, Dr. Apgar attended Holyoke College. She still found time to play on seven sports teams, act in college theatrical productions, write for the school paper, and play violin and cello in the orchestra.
In medical school at Columbia, she graduated fourth out of 90 students. Yet her career did not progress full steam ahead for the energetic young doctor.
A Twist on the Career Path
Dr. Apgar started a two-year residency in surgery in 1933 but was persuaded to change by her mentor, who was concerned that a woman surgeon would have difficulty earning a living during The Great Depression. He suggested she try anesthesiology, an emerging specialty.
In 1938, she directed a new division of anesthesiology within the Department of Surgery at Presbyterian Hospital in New York. She overcame resistance from male physicians who did not want to work with her and won the affection and admiration of colleagues. In 1949, when an Anesthesiology Department was established, Dr. Apgar expected to be named chair. But the honor went to a male colleague.
She maintained her indefatigable optimism, saying "Women are liberated from the time they leave the womb," and that gender bias did not negatively impact her medical career. She avoided women’s causes and focused on work and myriad avocations, playing her violin, fly fishing, golfing, and learning to fly a plane. She never married or had children.
The Apgar Score
After she was passed over, Dr. Apgar’s professional focus shifted to her research in obstetrical anesthesia and the impact of maternal anesthesia on newborns. She developed the Apgar Score, in which babies are evaluated on the basis of breathing effort, heart rate, muscle tone, reflexes and skin color, one minute after birth and then again after five minutes. A score of 7-10 indicates a healthy baby.
The simple procedure quickly identifies babies who need help and is credited with saving countless newborns. She went on to work with the March of Dimes, calling for research into ways to prevent birth defects.
Wherever she went, Dr. Apgar carried basic resuscitation equipment, so she would always be prepared to save a life. “Nobody, but nobody, is going to stop breathing on me," she said.
By the time she died of liver disease in 1974, Dr. Apgar was an intellectual celebrity. The New York World Telegram and Sun reported, “her name is a lifeline for newborns.” Julius Richmond, U.S. Surgeon General during the Carter administration, said Dr. Apgar did “more to improve the health of mothers, babies, and unborn infants than anyone else in the 20th century.”
Stamp collecting was among her many passions. In 1994, Dr. Apgar was honored with a commemorative postage stamp.
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