Neonatology pioneer, Dr. Andrews
Billy F. Andrews, M.D., FAAP, of Louisville, Ky., died March 15 at age 87.
Dr. Andrews helped ensure that the new field of neonatology included a focus on ethics with his cartoon “Neonatology — A Six-Finger Exercise,” which was used at a 1958 conference, published in 1968 and shared for decades.
The cartoon hand’s fingers and palm were labeled to point out problems to assess when examining newborns. A sutured sixth digit is labeled “Pediatrica iatrogenica” to indicate the dangers from procedures, equipment and medication.
Dr. Andrews likened the cartoon to the neonatology field’s version of a Hippocratic Oath. He also wrote the Children’s Bill of Rights in 1968 that focused on the welfare of children. His ethical approach to neonatology carried over to other creative works, including poems and drawings, and culminated in 2018 with an ebook on aphorisms he and his secretary had gathered throughout his career.
He also invented several neonatal devices, including an infant oxygen hood called the “Billy Box.”
A member of the AAP Sections on Bioethics and Perinatal Pediatrics, he earned his M.D. from Duke University in 1957 then served in the U.S. Army as major (1957-’64). He was chair and chief of staff at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and Kosair Children’s Hospital. He also directed neonatal training and high-risk infant programs. In 1993, he retired as chair emeritus and chief of staff emeritus.
Dr. Andrews is survived by his wife, Faye, three children and four grandchildren.
—Trisha Korioth
David J. Salamone, advocate for polio vaccine change
David J. Salamone, of Fairfax, Va., an advocate for polio vaccine policy change, died of multiple organ failure Sept. 7, 2018. He was 28 years old.
David was among the eight to 10 children who developed vaccine-acquired paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) each year after receiving the live attenuated oral poliovirus (OPV) vaccine prior to 2000. In his case, an undetected autoimmune disorder caused him to be susceptible to the disease, which the live poliovirus vaccine was meant to prevent. When his family learned an effective killed poliovirus vaccine was available, they took action.
In 1996, then 6-year-old David struggled on crutches and leg braces to descend stairs to attend the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While committee members faced David and other children with withered arms or legs, some sitting in wheelchairs maneuvered by exhausted-looking parents, David’s father, John, spoke to ACIP members about what “acceptable risk” for OPV was like for these families. Seeing the children behind the VAPP statistics changed ACIP members’ thinking, helping lead to change in polio vaccine policy.
The Salamone family members remain clear in their advocacy for safe vaccines available for other vaccine-preventable diseases, emphasizing that their OPV adverse event was extremely rare. There have been no cases of VAPP in the U.S. since the inactivated poliovirus vaccine-only schedule was adopted as policy in 2000.
— Karen Torghele, M.P.H., and Larry Pickering, M.D., FAAP
Additional deaths
Mary B. Arnold, M.D., FAAP, of Washington, D.C., died Dec. 19 at age 94.
Jeffrey M. Brown, M.D., FAAP, of Denver, died of multiple sclerosis Jan. 29 at age 63.
Marilyn L. Cowger, M.D., FAAP, of Charlotte, N.C., died Jan. 17 at age 87.
Michael McGuigan, M.D., FAAP, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, died Nov. 16 at age 74. He was past president of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology.
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