File:Virginia-Apgar-July-6-1959.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Virginia Apgar
Sign in to saveAmerican obstetrical anesthesiologist (1909-1974)
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1909-06-07 ) June 7, 1909, Westfield, New Jersey , U.S.
- Died
- August 7, 1974 (1974-08-07) (aged 65), Manhattan , New York, U.S.
- Education
- Mount Holyoke College , Columbia University , Johns Hopkins University
- Occupation
- Anesthesiologist
- Years active
- 1937–1974
- Known for
- Inventor of the Apgar score
- Profession
- Doctor
- Field
- Anesthesiology , teratology
- Sub specialties
- Obstetric anesthesiology
- Notable works
- Is My Baby All Right? A Guide to Birth Defects , with Joan Beck
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Virginia
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Westfield
- Place of death
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Occupation
- anesthesiologist
- Employer
- March of Dimes
- Field of work
- anaesthesiology
- Image
- Virginia-Apgar-July-6-1959.jpg
Show 8 more facts
- date of birth
- 1909-06-07
- date of death
- 1974-08-07
- influenced by
- Allen Whipple
- Commons category
- Virginia Apgar
- archives at
- Mount Holyoke College
- cause of death
- cardiac arrest
- name in native language
- Virginia Apgar
- manner of death
- natural causes
Sources (8)
via Wikidata · CC0
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Virginia Apgar (June 7, 1909 – August 7, 1974) was an American physician, obstetrical anesthesiologist and medical researcher, best known as the inventor of the Apgar score, a way to quickly assess the health of a newborn child immediately after birth in order to combat infant mortality. In 1952, she developed the 10-point Apgar score to assist physicians and nurses in assessing the status of newborns. Given at one minute and five minutes after birth, the Apgar test measures a child's breathing, skin color, reflexes, motion, and heart rate. A friend said, "She probably did more than any other physician to bring the problem of birth defects out of back rooms." She was a leader in the fields of anesthesiology and teratology, and introduced obstetrical considerations to the established field of neonatology.
Early life and education
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Virginia Apgar” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.