Alexander Nadas

Alexander Sandor Nadas (November 12, 1913 - May 16, 2000) was a Hungarian-American pediatric cardiologist and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He founded the cardiology program at Boston Children's Hospital, which was one of the early training programs in pediatric cardiology. Nadas authored an influential textbook, now known as Nadas' Pediatric Cardiology.

Alexander Nadas
Born	(1913-11-12)November 12, 1913 Budapest, then Austria-Hungary
Died	May 16, 2000(2000-05-16) (aged 86) Needham, Massachusetts
Known for	Nadas' Pediatric Cardiology
Scientific career
Fields	Pediatric cardiology
Institutions	Boston Children's Hospital Harvard Medical School

Early life

Born in Budapest, Nadas graduated from medical school at Semmelweis University.[1] He spent several months studying in Britain with cardiologist Paul Hamilton Wood and another year studying pathology in Geneva. In December 1938, he came to New York and began to study for licensure in the United States. He completed a rotating internship in Cleveland and a pediatric residency under Clement A. Smith in Detroit. He received a second medical degree from Wayne State University.[2]

Career

Nadas spent three years practicing as a pediatrician in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He was dismissed from a Catholic hospital there because he had advocated for counseling married people on the use of contraception.[1] He came to Children's Hospital in Boston at the invitation of Charles Janeway.[2] He started one of the early training programs in pediatric cardiology in the early 1950s.[3] Donald Fyler, who became an influential pediatric cardiologist, trained under Nadas.[4]

In 1952, Nadas and colleagues published a paper on cardiac complications in cystic fibrosis (CF), correctly predicting that heart failure would become an important issue in CF as antibiotics emerged that would prolong the survival of CF patients.[5] Much of his work focused on the understanding of congenital heart defects.[6] He advanced the science behind electrocardiographic data in pediatrics, and he helped to establish cardiac catheterization and cardiac pathology laboratories at Boston Children's.[7] Nadas attained the rank of Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in 1969 and he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1970.[2][8]

Nadas was the author of a textbook, Pediatric Cardiology; later editions of the book are known as Nadas' Pediatric Cardiology.[2] He was a charter member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section of Cardiology and was the first recipient of The Founders Award, given by that section to individuals who make outstanding contributions to pediatric cardiology or pediatric cardiovascular surgery.[9][10] In 1977, Nadas delivered the American Heart Association (AHA) Helen B. Taussig Memorial Lecture. In 1986, the AHA established the Alexander Nadas Lecture.[11]

Personal life

Nadas was married to the former Elizabeth McClearen for 53 years; they met when Nadas was in New York. Nadas commented that Elizabeth was "a tall, slender, beautiful, blonde, southern-voiced, American girl - and that is what I wanted. I wanted to distance myself from everything Hungarian, and that was about as far as I could run."[7] They had three children.[6] His daughter Elizabeth (Betsy) Nadas Seamans played Mrs. McFeely on the television show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. A granddaughter, Ann, died in a car accident when she was in college.[12]

Later life

Nadas retired from Harvard in 1984, and the school established a professorship in his honor. He spent much of his later life caring for his wife, who suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis for many years.[2] Predeceased by his wife in 1994, Nadas died in 2000 at his home in Needham, Massachusetts.[6] He had been born with a bicuspid aortic valve, suffered from two bouts of endocarditis, and died of congestive heart failure.[1]

References

1. Allen, Hugh D. (2016). Moss & Adams' Heart Disease in Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. pp. 90–92. ISBN 978-1496300263. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
2. "Faculty of Medicine - Memorial Minute: Alexander Sandor Nadas". Harvard Gazette. February 21, 2002. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
3. Noonan, Jacqueline A. (August 2004). "A history of pediatric specialties: The development of pediatric cardiology". Pediatric Research. 56 (2): 298–306. doi:10.1203/01.PDR.0000132662.73362.96. PMID 15181186.
4. Newburger, Jane W.; Fyler, Jennifer; Colan, Steven D. (19 August 2011). "Donald Charles Fyler: 1924–2011". Cardiology in the Young. 21 (5): 485–489. doi:10.1017/S1047951111001089. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
5. "The History of Cystic Fibrosis: The Fifties". cfmedicine.com. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
6. Saxon, Wolfgang (May 20, 2000). "Alexander S. Nadas, 86, pediatric cardiologist". The New York Times. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
7. Paul, Milton H. (May 1, 2014). "Alexander Sandor Nadas, M.D. (1913—2000)". Pediatric Cardiology. 22 (3): 179–182. doi:10.1007/s002460010198. PMID 11343136.
8. "Alexander S. Nadas". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
9. Moller, J. H. (May 1, 1994). "Alexander S. Nadas Lecture. Fifty years of pediatric cardiology and challenges for the future". Circulation. 89 (5): 2479–2483. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.89.5.2479.
10. "SOCCS Awards". American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
11. "Helen B. Taussig Memorial Lecture". American Heart Association. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
12. Rawson, Christopher (October 18, 1999). "Obituary: Ann Katharine Seamans, Ellis School graduate studied dance, ceramics". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 21, 2016.