Ruth Kempe (October 11, 1921 – July 24, 2009) was an American

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

and

child psychiatrist Child and adolescent psychiatry (or pediatric psychiatry) is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. It investigates the biopsychosocial fact ...

. She spent most of her career doing clinical research on

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

and co-founded

The Kempe Center C. Henry Kempe (birth name Karl Heinz Kempe; April 6, 1922 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) – March 3, 1984 in Hanauma Bay, Hawaii) was an American pediatrician and the first in the medical community to identify and recognize chi ...

in 1972.

Biography

Ruth Irene Svibergson was born on October 11, 1921 in

Norwood, Massachusetts Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Norwood is part of the Greater Boston area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,611. The town was named after Norwood, England. Norwood is ...

to Emil and Aina Svibergson. She studied at

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 Yale School of Medicine. After meeting

C. Henry Kempe C. Henry Kempe (birth name Karl Heinz Kempe; April 6, 1922 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) – March 3, 1984 in Hanauma Bay, Hawaii) was an American pediatrician and the first in the medical community to identify and recognize child ...

during her pediatrics residency at Yale New Haven Hospital, the couple married in 1948. Dr. Kempe served on the faculty at University of Colorado School of Medicine beginning in 1961, first as an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics, and later as an assistant professor of psychiatry and pediatrics. She spent most of her career doing clinical research on

and co-founded

in 1972.

Published works

*''Healthy Babies, Happy Parents'' (coauthor, 1958) *''The Battered Child'' (coauthor, 1968) *''Child Abuse'' (coauthor, 1978) *''The Common Secret: Sexual Abuse of Children and Adolescents'' (coauthor, 1984)

References

1921 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American physicians 20th-century American women physicians American child psychiatrists American pediatricians People from Norwood, Massachusetts Radcliffe College alumni University of Colorado faculty Women pediatricians Yale School of Medicine alumni 21st-century American women {{US-psychiatrist-stub