During these unsettling times with widespread cuts in federal aid for medical care, research and safety nets for the poor, it is important to look at the history of our field and learn from those visionaries who tackled challenges and founded our subspecialty. The foremost among those was Dr Henry L. Barnett, whom some consider the Father of Pediatric Nephrology.
At the time, Dr. Barnett’s vision for a better world for our children and families clearly was formed in part by his experience during World War II, as the base pediatrician for the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, N.M. He also was one of the first U.S. physicians to observe first-hand, the devastation after the atomic bombs were dropped in Japan. His quest for global collaboration basically resulted in the formation of the seminal “International Study of Kidney Disease in Children (ISKDC)” and in the development of American Society of Pediatric Nephrology.
It is timely to recall Dr.Barnett’s comments made at his Presidential Address to the American Pediatric Society at the annual meeting in Washington, DC in 1982 entitled “Challenges Facing the American Pediatric Society”. (Pediatr. Res. 16: 807-808, 1982). At the time he was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pediatrics of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Medical Director, Children’s Aid Society, New York City. Concurrently, President Ronald Reagan’s administration had initiated a wide range of cutbacks to medical care, research and other social services.
“This has been an eventful year for academic medicine, for children and their families, for the country and for the world. Academic medicine has been challenged by reduced funding for biomedical research and education, by increased external political influences on it, and by reimposition of limitations on freedom of exchange with scientists from other countries. The welfare of children and their families, especially the poor, is being threatened by cruel cutbacks and even eliminations of social programs adversely affecting the health and dignity of children. As individuals we have a large stake in seeking solutions to these challenges and threats. As physicians, and especially as academic pediatricians, we have unique responsibilities for some of them in order to work for solutions.”
The theme of his presentation is uncannily relevant in view of the current uncertainties facing our responsibilities as child health investigators and providers. We should acknowledge Dr. Barnett’s wisdom and insight as we strive to remain focused on our mission to provide the best care for our children and advance the field of pediatric nephrology.
The challenges currently facing medical scientists, child health investigators and providers are similar to what worried Dr Barnett in 1982. In these trying times, we have to follow the footprints of the founding visionaries of Pediatric Nephrology and make progress amidst the chaos. Pediatricians and pediatric specialists need to collectively rise to shoulder new responsibilities and devise meaningful ways to provide the best care for children while continuing to advance the field of Pediatric Nephrology.
Authors: Meredith Atkinson, Manju Chandra, Robert L. Chevalier, John Foreman, Aaron Friedman, Kevin Lemley, Teri Mauch, Victoria Norwood, William Primack, George Schwartz, Bruder Stapleton.
Submitted by Rick Kaskel.
