“Nobody, but nobody, is going to stop breathing on me.”
Virginia Apgar, MD
First female professor at Columbia University medical school, anesthesiologist, vaccination advocate, and chief researcher at the March of Dimes. She was the inventor of the Apgar scale, helping to save countless newborn lives.
From A Mighty Girl webpage:
“Apgar published over 60 papers during her lifetime, and continued working and researching until her death in 1974. Since that time, Apgar has been recognized with multiple awards and honors, including a U.S. Postal Service stamp and induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Her influence lives on in the March of Dimes Foundation: during her time with the organization, she helped expand its focus to funding prenatal services for at-risk and under-served communities, as well as neonatal intensive care units for babies born prematurely. In a tribute to Apgar on the 100th anniversary of her birth in 2009, David Rose wrote, “Virginia Apgar was an irrepressible and charismatic champion for babies whose wit and lively personality captivated everyone she encountered in her constant quest for improvements to maternal and infant health…. It has been said that every baby is first seen through the eyes of Virginia Apgar.”