Obstetrical anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar was born June 7, 1909 in Westfield, New Jersey to Charles Emory Apgar and Helen May Clarke. She attended Mount Holyoke College (A.B. 1929) and the College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S), Columbia University (MD. 1933) where she then interned at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (1933-1934). She was Junior Fellow in surgery (1935) and resident in Anesthesia (1936) under the direction of Alan Whipple who reportedly urged her to pursue anesthesiology due to the lack of acceptance of female surgeons. She trained in anesthesia at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and Bellevue Hospital, New York City and Presbyterian Hospital (1936-1937).

In 1938 she served as the Director of Anesthesiology within the P&S Department of Surgery until a separate Department of Anesthesiology was established in 1949. Through her work at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center her expertise developed in obstetric anesthesia and neonatal resuscitation. During this time, she devised an inventive and influential method for assessing newborn health, known as the Apgar score. She went on to study public health at Johns Hopkins University (M.S. 1959) where she was professor in the department of genetics in the School of Public Health. She also worked with the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation) and continued her life’s work in the prevention and treatment of birth defects.

Apgar was the first women to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) in 1961. She was the first woman on the Executive Committee of the American Society of Anesthetists.

Apgar was author of academic papers and the books Notes On Anesthesia (Columbia University, 1949) and Is My Baby All Right: A Guide to Birth Defects (Trident Press, 1972).

Virginia Apgar died in New York City on August 7, 1974 at age 65.

In 1975, the March of Dimes Center for Nutrition, Genetics and Human Development was established at P&S in honor of Dr. Apgar. The Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center established the Virginia Apgar Prize in Anesthesiology and Life Support Medicine of the CPMC Fund in April 1982.

In 1994, the U.S. Postal Service memorialized Apgar, issuing a postage stamp of her as part of the “Great Americans” series.

In November 2002, the Columbia University Department of Anesthesiology established the Virginia Apgar Scholars Program for residency applicants who want careers in academic medicine and plan to enter either clinical subspecialty or research fellowships following residency.

Appointments:

College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
Department of Surgery
1935                                     Assistant
1936-1937                            Instructor
1938-1943                            Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
1944-1948                            Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
1949-December 31, 1951       Professor of Anesthesiology

Department of Anesthesiology
January 1, 1952-June 30, 1959          Professor

Presbyterian Hospital (later NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital)
1933-1934                            Intern, Surgeon
1935                                     Jr. Fellow Surgeon
1936                                     Resident, Anesthetist
1938- June 30, 1959              Attending Anesthetist

Babies Hospital (later NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital)
December 1, 1939-June 30, 1946      Attending Anesthetist

Sloane Hospital for Women; and Vanderbilt Clinic
1941-December 31, 1947       Attending Anesthetist

Delafield Hospital
May 21, 1958-June 20, 1958  Associate Visiting Anesthetist