Anne Pappenheimer Forbes (1911–1992) was an American
endocrinologist
Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...
. A graduate of
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
and
Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded ...
, she was an associate of
Fuller Albright
Fuller Albright (January 12, 1900 – December 8, 1969) was an American endocrinologist who made numerous contributions to his field, especially to the area of calcium metabolism. Albright made great strides and contributions to the understanding ...
, who was the endocrinology chief at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
and
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...
(MGH). Forbes was one of the first women to reach the rank of clinical professor at Harvard Medical School.
Forbes opened the Ovarian Dysfunction Clinic at MGH, and she took on much of the administrative responsibility for Albright's research studies beginning in the late 1930s, when he was diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
. She practiced medicine until 1980.
Forbes-Albright syndrome
Hyperprolactinaemia is the presence of abnormally high levels of prolactin in the blood. Normal levels average to about 13 ng/mL in women, and 5 ng/mL in men, with an upper normal limit of serum prolactin levels being 15-25 ng/mL ...
is partly named for her.
Early life
Forbes was born Anne Pappenheimer in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on November 11, 1911.
Her father, Alwin Max Pappenheimer, was a physician and professor of pathology at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Two brothers,
John Pappenheimer and
Alwin Max Pappenheimer Jr., became science professors at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. Forbes attended the Lincoln School in New York, where she had diverse extracurricular involvement. She was a writer for the school newspaper, learned to farm, and rode horses. At the Lincoln School she identified that she wanted to be a farmer or a doctor. She entered Radcliffe College at the age of 16.
[
In 1931, with Forbes headed into her senior year at Radcliffe, her parents took her on a trip through several countries, including Russia and China. She was away from her studies for several months, and had to make up the time in summer school. Part of her summer work involved ]biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
studies at the Marine Biological Laboratory
The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...
at Woods Hole. She was granted an undergraduate degree in 1933, after she completed her first year of medical school at Columbia.[
]
Career
Forbes graduated from medical school in 1936. She spent the next two years as an intern at Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...
. Forbes began at MGH in 1939 as an unpaid observer.[ Once ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
got underway, many male physicians were called to active duty and Forbes formally became a colleague of Albright. She opened the Ovarian Dysfunction Clinic at MGH. When Forbes took the formal position at MGH, she assumed the administrative responsibilities for Albright's research studies, as he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. They worked together until 1956, when Albright experienced complications after a brain surgery intended to treat his disease. Albright remained in a vegetative state until he died in 1969.
As one of the first women to become a clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, Forbes balanced her work responsibilities with her family life. She married William Hathaway Forbes in 1935 and they had five children, including historian Beatrice Forbes Manz
Beatrice Forbes Manz is an American historian of the Middle East and Central Asia who specializes in nomads and the Timurid dynasty. She currently works as a professor of history at Tufts University. Her 1989 book ''The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane' ...
.
Later life
Forbes retired in 1980, and she spent much of her time taking care of her garden and raising ponies and sheep. Forbes learned to shear the sheep and to spin and dye the wool herself. She was a caretaker for her husband while he suffered from dementia, and she helped to care for her grandchildren while their mothers worked.[ She died in 1992, before her husband, of ]Hodgkin lymphoma
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition wa ...
.
Forbes-Albright syndrome was the name given to amenorrhea
Amenorrhea is the absence of a menstrual period in a woman of reproductive age. Physiological states of amenorrhoea are seen, most commonly, during pregnancy and lactation (breastfeeding). Outside the reproductive years, there is absence of menses ...
and galactorrhea
Galactorrhea ( also spelled galactorrhoea) ( galacto- + -rrhea) or lactorrhea ( lacto- + -rrhea) is the spontaneous flow of milk from the breast, unassociated with childbirth or nursing.
Galactorrhea is reported to occur in 5–32% of women. M ...
occurring in the presence of a pituitary tumor
Pituitary adenomas are tumors that occur in the pituitary gland. Most pituitary tumors are benign, approximately 35% are invasive and just 0.1% to 0.2% are carcinomas.[American Society for Clinical Investigation
The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States.
Organization and purpose
The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...]
. In a Harvard Medical School memorial, her colleagues referred to her as "endocrinology growth factor" for her ability to mentor young physicians in that specialty.[
]
References
External links
Forbes, Anne Pappenheimer Personal and Professional Papers, 1930-1991
Anne Pappenheimer Forbes personal and professional papers, 1930-1991 (inclusive). HMS c180. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Anne Pappenheimer
1911 births
1992 deaths
American endocrinologists
Women endocrinologists
Physicians from New York City
Harvard Medical School faculty
Radcliffe College alumni
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni
Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts
Deaths from Hodgkin lymphoma
Deaths from lymphoma in the United States