Mary Ellen Avery, MD, becomes first woman physician-in-chief at Boston Children’s Hospital

In 1974, Dr. Mary Ellen Avery became the first woman physician-in-chief at Boston Children’s Hospital. The same year, Dr. Avery became the first woman to chair a major department at Harvard Medical School when she was appointed the Thomas Morgan Rotch Professor of Pediatrics.

Dr. Avery, born in 1927, attended Wheaton College, where she earned a degree in chemistry. She earned her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1952. While completing a research fellowship in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in 1957, she discovered surfactant deficiency in infants. Surfactant replacement therapy is now used to treat premature infants with respiratory distress syndrome. To learn more about Dr. Avery, visit: https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/avery.