Selma Calmes (1940, ''née'' Harrison) is an

anesthesiologist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

and co-founder of the Anesthesia History Association.

Early life

Calmes was born in

Corregidor Corregidor ( tl, Pulo ng Corregidor, ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of the Province of Cavite. Due to this location, Corregidor has historically b ...

, an island in

Manila Bay Manila Bay ( fil, Look ng Maynila) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Phili ...

that is legally part of

Cavite City Cavite City, officially the City of Cavite ( fil, Lungsod ng Kabite, Spanish and cbk, Ciudad de Cavite), is a 4th class component city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 100,674 people. The city was the c ...

, in 1940; however, her family returned to the United States the same year she was born. Her father, a graduate of

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

military academy, was killed in 1944 while fighting in World War II, leaving her mother to raise three children. Calmes and her two brothers all contracted

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

at a young age, which served as her inspiration for going into a medical career. She attended

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

, where she was encouraged to further her education instead of settling down and starting a family. She applied to

Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a medical school and research center in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate Sc ...

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and was one of three women accepted to a class of 84 students.

Adult life and career

Previously Selma Harrison, she married one of her classmates the summer after her freshman year at Baylor College of Medicine and became Selma Harrison Calmes in 1958. She graduated from Baylor in 1965 and initially began an internship in pediatrics, which was the most common specialty for female physicians at the time. However, she read an essay by Dr.

Virginia Apgar Virginia Apgar (June 7, 1909August 7, 1974) was an American physician, obstetrical anesthesiologist and medical researcher, best known as the inventor of the Apgar Score, a way to quickly assess the health of a newborn child immediately after bir ...

that promoted anesthesiology as a specialty for women physicians with children and began a residency in anesthesiology in 1966 at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. She was the only female resident in the program, which was leading in anesthesiology training during this time. The same year she gave birth to her first child and during the second year of her residency she became pregnant again. After completing her residency in 1969, Calmes became a staff anesthesiologist and instructor in Pennsylvania until 1970, when she moved to California, which remains her current place of residence. There, she took a position as staff anesthesiologist at Valley Children's Hospital in

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

. Calmes was greatly inspired by her peers, other women physicians, and wrote various articles on Dr. Virginia Apgar, who had originally inspired her to pursue anesthesiology, as well as articles about women's history in anesthesiology. In 1982 she co-founded the Anesthesia History Association. Calmes was named as chair of the department of anesthesiology at the Kern Medical Center in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

in 1986 and held the same title at

Olive View-UCLA Medical Center The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

Sylmar, California Sylmar is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley and is the northernmost neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles. Historically known for its profusion of sylvan olive orchards, Sylmar can trace its past to the 18th century and th ...

in 1988. In 1994 she was named as vice-chair of the department of anesthesiology at

UCLA School of Medicine The University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine—known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM)—is an accredited medical school located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The school was renamed in 2001 in h ...

in Los Angeles, California.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calmes, Selma American anesthesiologists 21st-century American women physicians Physicians from California 1940 births Living people Pomona College alumni American expatriates in the Philippines Baylor College of Medicine alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Women anesthesiologists 20th-century American women physicians 20th-century American physicians 21st-century American physicians Physicians with disabilities