David Weyhe Smith (September 24, 1926 – January 23, 1981) was an American pediatrician and dysmorphologist. Smith was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. He gained his medical degree from

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...

and worked with

Lawson Wilkins Lawson Wilkins (1894-1963) was a pioneering pediatric endocrinologist. He is known along with John Money for pioneering surgeries for visibly intersex newborns. Honors *Borden Award, American Academy of Pediatrics (1953) *Amory Prize, American Aca ...

in the field of

pediatric endocrinology Pediatric endocrinology (British: Paediatric) is a medical subspecialty dealing with disorders of the endocrine glands, such as variations of physical growth and sexual development in childhood, diabetes and many more. By age, pediatric endocrin ...

. He began working at the

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

in 1958, and became a professor of pediatrics there. From 1966 until the end of his career he was at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, Seattle. His work in dysmorphology was recognized worldwide. His book ''Recognizable Patterns of Human Malformation'' is considered a key work in the field. He also published five other monographs as well as nearly 200 papers. The condition known as Aase–Smith syndrome is named for Smith and colleague Jon Morton Aase. Smith also co-discovered and lent his name to such conditions as

Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome Smith–Lemli–Opitz syndrome is an inborn error of cholesterol synthesis. It is an autosomal recessive, multiple malformation syndrome caused by a mutation in the enzyme 7-Dehydrocholesterol reductase encoded by the DHCR7 gene. It causes a bro ...

Marshall–Smith syndrome Marshall-Smith Syndrome, discovered in 1971 (Marshall, Graham, Scott, Boner, & Smith), is characterized by unusual Bone age, accelerated skeletal maturation (usually starting before birth) and symptoms like conspicuous physical characteristics, re ...

and others. Fetal alcohol syndrome was named in 1973 by Smith and Dr. Kenneth Lyons Jones, who identified a pattern of "craniofacial, limb, and cardiovascular defects associated with prenatal onset growth deficiency and developmental delay" in eight unrelated children of three

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

s, all born to mothers who were

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

s. Smith and Jones built upon the pioneering work of French pediatrician Dr. Paul Lemoine from Nantes, France. In 1968, Lemoine published a study of the common physical and behavioral characteristics of 172 children born to alcoholic mothers.[Children of Alcoholic Parents—Observed Anomalies: Discussion of 127 Cases; Lemoine, P.; Harousseau, H.; Borteyru, J. P.; Menuet, J. C. Author Information Dr. Paul Lemoine, 15, Rue Alfred-De-Musset, 44000 Nantes, France Published originally in Ouest Med. 1968;8:476–482. Translated and published in English with permission of Ouest Medical and Dr. Lemoine. The original abstract was published in Arch Fr Pediatr. 1967;25:830–832.] Smith died of cancer in Seattle.

References

External links

''American Journal of Pediatics'' Obituary
*Graham, John M.; Smith, David W.. Smith's recognizable patterns of human deformation. PA, Elsevier, 200
Google Books
Jul. 2011 Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni American pediatricians Caetgory:Medical geneticists University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty University of Washington faculty Road incident deaths in Washington (state) Physicians from Seattle People from Oakland, California 1926 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American physicians Medical geneticists {{US-physician-stub