Virginia Apgar
(1909-1974)

LINKS ON THIS PAGE
Overview
Education and Training
Career Path
Selected Achievements
Birth Defects Prevention Today
CDC's Role
Tips to Help Prevent Birth Defects
Related Links

Overview

Virginia Apgar was born in Westfield, New Jersey in 1909. She made significant contributions through her research in anesthesiology and maternal and child health. She died in 1974.

Education and Training

• Bachelor's degree in zoology from Mt. Holyoke College
  
  
• Medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
  
  
  • She was one of only four women to enter this institution in 1929 and graduated fourth in her class.
    
    
• Internship and residency in surgery at Columbia University Presbyterian Medical Center
  
  
  • After completing two years of excellent work, the chair of the surgery department informed her that he doubted a woman could have a successful surgical practice and encouraged her to pursue a career in anesthesiology.
    
    
• Training in anesthesia at the University of Wisconsin and Bellevue Hospital in New York
  
  
• Masters degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University

Career Path

• Director of the new division of anesthesiology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
  
  
  • She was the medical school’s first female division head.
    
    
• Full professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
  
  
  • She was the first woman appointed to this position and decided to focus on obstetrical anesthesia.
    
    
• Director of the division of congenital defects at the March of Dimes

Selected Achievements

• Built a solid residency program as director of Columbia’s anesthesiology division while fulfilling responsibilities for clinical care
  
  
• Created the Apgar Score, the first world-wide standardized scoring system for assessing the health of newborns in the crucial minutes after birth. The system involves assigning a score for 5 criteria: respiratory effort, reflex irritability, muscle tone, heart rate, and color.
  
  
• Served as an advocate, fund-raiser, and educator for the prevention of birth defects, receiving many honors and awards for her work

Birth Defects Prevention Today

Each year in the U.S., one in 33 babies is born with a birth defect, amounting to 150,000 births. Another 3,000 babies are born with severe disorders that may not be obvious, but that can be detected — and treated — as early as possible, thanks to screening of dried blood spots collected at birth. In approximately 25 percent of the cases, the causes of birth defects and developmental disabilities are known. For example, insufficient folic acid (a B vitamin) in pregnant women can lead to spina bifida (spine defects) and anencephaly (brain defects) in their infants; alcohol consumed during pregnancy can lead to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Because many women do not know they are pregnant until several weeks after conception, education about prevention measures (such as taking folic acid to prevent these defects, or avoiding alcohol) needs to reach women before they become pregnant.

CDC's Role

CDC continues to build on the work done by Virginia Apgar. CDC provides national leadership for preventing birth defects and developmental disabilities and for improving the health and wellness of people with disabilities. Activities include:

• Identifying the causes of birth defects and developmental disabilities
  
  
• Helping children to develop and reach their full potential
  
  
• Promoting health and well-being among people of all ages with disabilities

In 1992, CDC published the U.S. Public Health Service recommendation that all women of childbearing age consume 400 micrograms of the B vitamin folic acid daily to prevent spina bifida and anencephaly, two serious birth defects. For the 75 percent of cases for which causes of birth defects are still unknown, CDC supports national, regional, and local research efforts designed to discover the maternal, nutritional, genetic, and other risk factors that contribute to these conditions. CDC has provided scientific leadership to laboratories, intervention programs, and media and education campaigns.

Tips to Help Prevent Birth Defects

• Avoid smoking and second-hand smoke. Cigarette smoking can result in low birth weight and cause long-term learning disabilities. It is also associated with infertility, miscarriages, tubal pregnancies, infant mortality, and childhood morbidity.
  
  
• Take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily before and during pregnancy. Folic acid has been shown to reduce the risk of birth defects of the brain and spine.
  
  
• Avoid drinking alcohol. Fetal alcohol syndrome, a disorder characterized by growth retardation, facial abnormalities, and central nervous system dysfunction, is caused by a woman's use of alcohol during pregnancy. There is no safe amount of alcohol a woman can drink while pregnant.
  
  
• See your health care provider. Be sure to get prenatal care. See your health care provider before you are pregnant to discuss any concerns you may have about your health or the health of the baby. Discuss family history of pregnancy complications or birth defects, medical history, medications, immunizations, and other issues to ensure that you are on the right track for a healthy pregnancy.

Related Links

ABCs… Pregnancy Tips (A-Z)*
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/bd/abc.htm

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/

Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities: Programs in Brief*
http://www.cdc.gov/programs/bd.htm

Birth Defects Topics
http://www.cdc.gov/node.do/id/0900f3ec8000dffe

CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/

CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh

Dr. Virginia Apgar*
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/
biography_12.html (Non-CDC site)

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas/

Folic Acid
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/folicacid/index.htm

Infant Health
http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/Infant.htm

Safe Motherhood
http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/mh.htm

STDs in Women and Infants
http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats00/2000SFWomen&Inf.htm

Virginia Apgar*
http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/
virginia_apgar.html (Non-CDC site)

Virginia Apgar: Newborn Scoring System
http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/apgar.html (Non-CDC site)

*Used as a source for this Web page.