Download a high resolution photograph of Mildred Stahlman.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ Dr. Mildred T. Stahlman, who revolutionized the care
of high-risk newborns by creating the world’s first modern neonatal
intensive care unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been
named the university’s 2004 Distinguished Alumna. The Alumni
Association of Vanderbilt will honor Stahlman Nov. 4 during the
university’s reunion and homecoming weekend.
"This university’s reputation rests firmly with the success and actions
of its graduates, and Dr. Stahlman’s contributions to the field of
medicine and to the cause of higher education are nearly immeasurable,"
said Chancellor Gordon Gee. "I am proud that the Alumni
Association is recognizing Dr. Stahlman and her great works by
bestowing upon her one of Vanderbilt’s highest honors."
Stahlman, a professor of pediatrics and pathology, is a 1943 graduate
of the College of Arts and Science. She earned her medical degree from
Vanderbilt in 1946 and became an instructor in pediatrics at the
medical school in 1951. A decade later she started the first newborn
intensive care unit to use respiratory therapy on infants with damaged
lungs.
Stahlman was the lead researcher on a National Institutes of
Health-funded project to determine what physiological changes occur in
babies as they develop from intrauterine life to the world outside the
womb. When a baby girl with severe hyaline membrane disease was born in
October of 1961, Stahlman’s research was confronted with a life or
death situation. The girl’s parents gave permission for a bold
experiment at the time ñ helping their daughter breathe through use of
a respirator that had been scaled down for premature baby size. The
ability to monitor the respirator’s effect on blood oxygen with
umbilical catheters made respirator therapy possible. That patient and
other high-risk infants around the world have benefited greatly from
this medical development.
Stahlman played an important role in expanding the care for high-risk
infants through the region. She helped bring to fruition a newborn
ambulance service called Angel Transport. In addition, she started
Vanderbilt’s Neonatology Fellowship Training Program and has helped
train many physicians from overseas.
"The benefits of Dr. Stahlman’s innovative contributions to pediatric
medicine and her lifelong commitment of service to both patients and
practitioners have advanced the lives of our worldwide community in
ways that will multiply for generations to come," said Alumni
Association President Sharon Munger. "I am so pleased that we will be
able to recognize her accomplishments during Vanderbilt’s Alumni
Weekend."
Stahlman, who has a 700-acre farm in Humphreys County, has been a
generous supporter of students there through the Mildred T. Stahlman
Education Foundation. Each year two high school students in the county
are awarded partial four-year college scholarships from her foundation.
The scholarships are based on academics as well as need. Stahlman tries
to personally award the scholarships to the students.
Stahlman is a member of the Institute of Medicine and a former
president of the American Pediatric Society and the Southern Society
for Pediatric Research. In addition to her teaching and caring for
patients, Stahlman has contributed to more than 100 research
publications.
Her peers have honored her with the Virginia Apgar Award from the
American Academy of Pediatrics and the John Howland Medal, the highest
award of the American Pediatric Society. She received the university’s
Thomas Jefferson Award in 1980 "for distinguished service to Vanderbilt
through extraordinary contributions as a member of the faculty in the
councils and government of the university."
Stahlman is the seventh recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award,
which was established in 1996 to recognize alumni who have furthered
Vanderbilt’s mission globally through outstanding achievement and
service. Previous recipients have been Bangladeshi banker Muhammad
Yunus, renowned heart surgeon Dr. Norman E. Shumway, former Dollar
General CEO Cal Turner Jr., Oscar-winning director Delbert Mann,
Cornell University Medical College Dean Dr. Antonio Gotto and Dr.
Thomas F. Frist Jr., one of the founders and former chairman of HCA.
Media contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, 615-322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu