Male Pediatricians

American paediatrician Benjamin Spock was the first paediatrician who studied psychoanalysis to comprehend needs of children and family dynamics. He penned Baby and Child Care, a best-seller book of the twentieth-century. His concepts of child-rearing influenced generations of parents. Spock was also an Olympic gold-medallist in rowing and ran during the 1972 United States presidential election as People's Party nominee.

A reputed Polish doctor, Henryk Goldszmit was better known by his pseudonym, Janusz Korczak, which he used to write several children’s books. Apart from working as a pediatrician and a military doctor, he also owned a Jewish orphanage and stayed with the children while the Germans deported him and other staff to Treblinka.

C. Everett Koop was a pediatric surgeon and public health administrator who served as the 13th Surgeon General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan. Previously, he had been a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. He was well-known for his support of the rights of children with disabilities and his work with AIDS patients. 

American pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton conducted ground-breaking studies on newborn behavioral research. He is also remembered for his Emmy-winning show What Every Baby Knows and for his books such as Toddlers and Parents. He had advocated for parental and medical leaves and been part of the National Commission on Children.

Considered the Father of American pediatrics, Abraham Jacobi was a German born American physician, who began his career in USA as a practicing doctor. Later, he took up teaching assignments at various universities, eventually establishing the first Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital.  Also an advocate of birth control, he occupied a key position in the child healthcare movement.

South African pediatric cardiologist and professor Lungile Pepeta is remembered for his life-long struggle to improve his country’s medical facilities and to create a medical school for doctors from rural areas. Part of the advisory committee of the government’s COVID-19 taskforce, he himself died of the virus later.

Harvard professor and pediatric neurologist Bronson Crothers initially spent a few years practicing in Minnesota before becoming an army doctor during World War I. He is best remembered for his work on neurological injuries that cause conditions such as cerebral palsy. He also served the American Pediatric Society as its president.

Johns Hopkins pediatrician and geneticist Barton Childs had also served the army during World War II. Apart from being the first director of genetics at Johns Hopkins, he conducted pioneering studies on the genetics of adrenal hyperplasia and Addison’s disease, and penned books such as Genetic Medicine: A Logic of Disease.