Margaret Heagarty – 2022
1934 – 2022
Margaret Caroline Heagarty, MD, passed away peacefully at her home in the Bronx on December 23, 2022.
A dedicated physician and advocate for children, Dr. Heagarty combined medical leadership with a deep commitment to improving the lives of her patients. Her work was especially important during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, when she devoted significant attention to caring for children affected by the disease.
Kurt Hirschorn – 2022
Kurt Hirschhorn, MD, was a distinguished pediatrician, medical geneticist, and cytogeneticist whose career at Mount Sinai spanned 50 years.
Dr. Hirschhorn served as the Herbert H. Lehman Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and as Pediatrician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine from 1977 to 1995. A pioneer in medical genetics, he established one of the first U.S. laboratories dedicated to clinical chromosome studies. His research with Herbert L. Cooper, MD, helped define the genetic condition that later became known as Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.
Henry Lewis Halliday – 2022
Henry Lewis Halliday, MD, passed away peacefully at his home on November 12, 2022, surrounded by his family.
Born in Belfast in 1945, Dr. Halliday graduated from Queen’s University Belfast Medical School in 1970 and pursued a career in pediatrics as neonatology was emerging as a specialty. From 1976 to 1978, he completed fellowships at Rainbow Children’s Hospital in Cleveland and the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco. During his time in San Francisco, his work with renowned surfactant researcher John Clements helped shape his research interests in neonatal medicine.
Samuel L. Katz – 2022
Samuel L. Katz, MD, passed away on October 31, 2022. A distinguished pediatrician and virologist, Dr. Katz was Chair Emeritus and Wilburt C. Davison Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine.
An honors graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Katz completed his pediatric training and a research fellowship in virology and infectious diseases. He later spent 12 years at Boston Children’s Hospital working with Nobel laureate John F. Enders, where their research contributed to the development of an attenuated measles virus vaccine. Dr. Katz’s work in pediatric infectious diseases and virology made a lasting contribution to children’s health worldwide.
Alfred F. Michael – 2022
Alfred F. Michael, MD, passed away peacefully at his home on September 25, 2022, surrounded by his family.
Born August 10, 1928, in Philadelphia, Dr. Michael earned his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in 1953. Following early pediatric training at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, he served as a medical officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1955 to 1957. He later completed his pediatric residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and pursued advanced training in immunology and nephrology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he worked with Robert Good, MD, and Robert Vernier, MD.
Robert O. Fisch – 2022
Charles Fisch, MD, passed away at his home on June 12, 2022, his 97th birthday. A physician, artist, author, and Holocaust survivor, Dr. Fisch’s remarkable life was shaped by resilience, service, and a commitment to medicine and education.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Dr. Fisch survived the Holocaust and was liberated from the Gunskirchen concentration camp in Austria in 1945. He returned to Budapest to earn his medical degree before later escaping Hungary following his involvement in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He came to the United States in 1958 to continue his medical training at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Fisch was later recognized by the Hungarian government for his courage and contributions to Holocaust education, receiving several honors, including the Knight’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in 2019.
Donald Pinkel – 2022
Donald Pinkel, MD, passed away on March 9, 2022, at his home in San Luis Obispo, California, at the age of 95. A pioneering pediatric oncologist, Dr. Pinkel transformed the treatment of childhood leukemia and helped shape the field of pediatric cancer care.
In 1961, Dr. Pinkel became the founding director and first employee of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. During his 12 years there, he helped establish the hospital’s clinical and research programs and pioneered an effective treatment approach for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), fundamentally improving the outlook for children diagnosed with the disease.
Edward Clark – 2022
Edward Bowersox Clark, MD, passed away at his home on March 8, 2022, at the age of 77, surrounded by his family.
Born in 1944 in New York City, Dr. Clark earned his BS in biology with honors from Union College in 1966 and graduated magna cum laude from Albany Medical College in 1970. He trained in internal medicine at Dartmouth Medical School and later pursued pediatrics and pediatric cardiology at Johns Hopkins, where he was mentored by pediatric cardiologist Catherine Neill, MD. Dr. Clark is also remembered for his dedication to family and the importance he placed on compassionate patient care.
William Northway, Jr. – 2022
William Northway Jr., MD, passed away on January 26, 2022, at his home in San Carlos, California, at the age of 89. A pioneering pediatric radiologist and Professor Emeritus at Stanford Medicine, Dr. Northway made significant contributions to the care of premature infants.
Through his research, Dr. Northway identified a lung condition affecting premature infants and helped develop approaches to prevent it. His work influenced standards of care and left a lasting impact on neonatal medicine, complementing a career devoted to patient care, research, and teaching.
