Mary Allen Engle, a founder and life-long leader of the field of pediatric cardiology died at home in Easton Maryland on January 27, 2008 at the age of 86. Born January 26, 1922 in Madill, Oklahoma, Mary Allen English grew up in Dallas, Texas and graduated first in her class at Baylor University. At Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha, graduating first in her class in 1945. On graduation day, she married medical school classmate, Ralph Landis Engle, Jr.
A 25 year member of the ACCA, she served as member of the council and president in 2004. Her presidential address “Growth and development of pediatric cardiology: A personal odyssey” takes us from her student years at Johns Hopkins during World War II to the end of the 20th century. Dr Helen Taussig, Dr Denton Cooley and Dr Alfred Blalock were her mentors and friends. Mary Allen was a sub-intern when the Hopkins team operated on the first “blue baby”. At the end of the surgery, Dr Taussig exclaimed with delight that the baby now had a “lovely pink color”. Mary Allen said “I shall never forget the excitement and awe that accompanied this accomplishment”, and she became one of Dr Taussig's first fellows. In 1957, she was instrumental in establishing the subspecialty of Pediatric Cardiology within the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Over the next 40 years she was involved in every major national and international initiative in cardiology. Her many research breakthroughs included delineation of pulmonic stenosis, early recognition of the most common anomaly, ventricular septal defect, and recognition and treatment of cardiac failure during infancy. As a surgically trained pediatric cardiologist, Mary Allen and her surgical team developed a new surgical incision to allow for less visible scars later in life. Her research, prolific teaching and patient care resulted in more than 400 papers, invited chapters, editorials, and edited books. She was a director of the American Heart Association, a trustee and governor of the American College of Cardiology, and a member of President Nixon's Advisory Panel on Heart Disease. She served on the international committee of four World Congresses of Pediatric Cardiology and enjoyed the friendship of colleagues from many countries. She worked with the Japanese pediatrician, Dr Kawasaki, on preventing the cardiovascular complications of Kawasaki disease with intravenous gamma globulin, and she traveled to China in 1977 on a historic visit of eight U.S. cardiologists soon after President Nixon's visit.
Mary Allen came to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center after her fellowship at Hopkins and spent her professional career there. She initiated a unique program for the surgical treatment of Greek children with congenital heart disease in the early 70's. This was privately financed, largely by a group of Greek industrialists and shipping magnates, and over the years, over two hundred children benefited from this collaboration. The project contributed to the development of pediatric cardiac surgery in Greece.
Mary Allen was elected to the ACCA in 1983, one of the first women members. Only three years earlier, the Transactions of the Association recorded that without changes in constitution or by-laws, “Women can be elected to the Association on their own merit. This is as it should be”. As Recorder for the Association, she initiated the Mary Allen Engle Recorder's award: a bottle of wine for the first person to submit a manuscript for the Transactions. In 2004, she was the second woman to be elected President after Carol Johns in 1995. The women members of the ACCA, to whom she was so welcoming and gracious, acknowledge her leadership.
Ralph Engle died in 2000. Mary Allen and Ralph, Professor of Medicine in the division of Hematology, drove in to Cornell Medical College every day from Pelham. They shared a joy in ballroom dancing, their garden and their family. Mary Allen is survived by her daughter, Marilyn, an environmental scientist who accompanied her mother to recent ACCA meetings and by her two grandchildren.