Mildred T. Stahlman, MD, who pioneered the treatment of lung disease in premature infants and who was a tireless advocate of children of all ages, died June 29. She was 101.
Dr. Stahlman, professor of Pediatrics and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, is credited with establishing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) the nation’s first newborn intensive care unit to use monitored respiratory therapy in babies born with damaged lungs.
Dr. Stahlman established Vanderbilt’s Division of Neonatology, the subspecialty of Pediatrics that deals with the care of infants immediately after birth. In the mid-1970s, she helped regionalize newborn intensive care services in Tennessee, and she trained generations of physician-scientists from around the world.
“Dr. Stahlman was pioneering in so many ways. Refusing to accept the poor outcomes of babies born prematurely, she forged new methods to support their survival while upending the field of neonatology. Throughout her life, she generously supported numerous programs and services that have advanced our mission,” said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of VUMC and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “Forever an aggressive advocate for the tiny babies she dedicated her life to saving, Dr. Stahlman set the standard for generations of neonatologists at Vanderbilt and throughout the world to follow.”
A past president of the American Pediatrics Society and a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine, Dr. Stahlman was internationally known for her broad vision and unflagging dedication to translate new knowledge into action.
Two early experiences helped determine the course of Dr. Stahlman’s career. The first was a fellowship at the famed Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, where she studied pediatric cardiology. It was there, she said, that she became “hooked” on the care of newborn infants.
Dr. Stahlman was the recipient of countless honors and awards. Her peers have honored her with the Virginia Apgar Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the John Howland Medal, the highest award of the American Pediatric Society.
In 2004, Vanderbilt University recognized Dr. Stahlman as its Distinguished Alumna.
Meg Rush, MD, MMHC, President of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and Professor of Pediatrics, is a neonatologist who trained under Dr. Stahlman and went on to serve with her until Dr. Stahlman’s retirement.
“It is hard to capture in a few sentences the profound influence Millie had for so many during her lifetime. She founded the field of neonatology, pioneering and permanently integrating the principles of science and bedside care for prematurely born babies. Her discoveries have been instrumental in shaping the field for the past 60-plus years. She never wanted accolades for her work, or her influence for countless women entering medicine, yet she changed lives through strong mentoring, her passion for curiosity, her wisdom freely offered to anyone around her, her generosity of time and philanthropy to enable others to find their paths, and perhaps most importantly, her presence with people she cared about. While never overly demonstrative, she cared about her circle deeply. For those of us who knew her, worked under or with her, and were the recipients of her many gifts, we offer gratitude for her amazing life and career,” said Rush.
The Stahlman Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), located in Vanderbilt University Hospital (VUH) for more than 40 years, was one of the first modern neonatal intensive care units in the world. Due to programmatic growth, the unit transitioned in 2023. However, the name and mission of the Stahlman NICU live on in the new Stahlman Suite, a four-bed, 850-square-foot resuscitation unit in VUMC just steps from the original Stahlman NICU. In this space, babies in need are stabilized before moving to the NICU at Monroe Carell or to the Special Care or Transition Care nurseries.
A tiny woman with flashing blue eyes and graying hair usually pulled back in a bun, Dr. Stahlman was intensely serious about her work. Medicine was more than a profession to her. It was a calling.
Dr. Stahlman set her sights on Vanderbilt’s medical school and was admitted in 1943. Although she was one of only four women in a class of 50, “medical school was a marvelous experience,” she recalled in 2005. “Every professor … knew you by your first name, knew who your parents were.”
Two early experiences helped determine the course of Dr. Stahlman’s career. The first was a fellowship at the famed Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, where she studied pediatric cardiology. It was there, she said, that she became “hooked” on the care of newborn infants.
Dr. Stahlman returned to Sweden many times and throughout her life continued to have close ties with friends and colleagues there.
The second pivotal experience was her relationship with Elliott V. Newman, MD, founder of Vanderbilt’s General Clinical Research Center. Dr. Newman, whom Dr. Stahlman described as “my most important mentor,” persuaded her to do cardiopulmonary research in his division.
By 1951 Dr. Stahlman was working as an instructor in pediatrics at Vanderbilt — for $250 a month. “I paid my (lab) technician the same amount,” she recalled. “I lived in a $100-a-month garage apartment in the back yard of somebody’s nice house in Belle Meade.”
As the new field of neonatology developed, so did Dr. Stahlman’s determination to prevent diseases of the newborn from occurring in the first place. That means, ultimately, working to alleviate poverty — an important risk factor for premature delivery.
In 1954, she received a small grant from the National Institutes of Health to study hyaline membrane disease, the failure of the alveoli, or small sacs in the lungs, to expand with air. When severe, the condition, also known as respiratory distress syndrome, was nearly always fatal.
Dr. Stahlman and her colleagues developed ways to diagnose and monitor the course of hyaline membrane disease by measuring blood gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide content, and acidity) through miniaturized catheters placed in the umbilical vessel.
They also began experimenting with infant “iron-lung” machines — originally developed for polio victims — to ventilate premature babies.
Vanderbilt had been given a prototype of an infant respirator in 1956, but it lay in a back storage room for years until the technology for monitoring blood gases in infants became available.
Then on Oct. 31, 1961, a baby girl, Martha Humphreys, was born at Vanderbilt University Hospital two months prematurely and gasping for breath.
With the permission of her parents and the support of Eric Chazen, MD, the baby’s pediatrician, baby Martha was placed into the negative pressure breathing machine.
The idea was to keep her alive until her lungs matured sufficiently for her to breathe on her own. Dr. Stahlman put up a folding bed in the next-door lab so she could help monitor the baby day and night. “I was there for four nights,” she said. “On the fifth day, we managed to get her weaned off.”
As life can come full circle, today, that first baby, Martha Humphreys (Lott), who was saved by Dr. Stahlman through advanced respiratory support is a nurse in the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
As the new field of neonatology developed, so did Dr. Stahlman’s determination to prevent diseases of the newborn from occurring in the first place. That means, ultimately, working to alleviate poverty — an important risk factor for premature delivery.
In a 2009 lecture to medical students, Dr. Stahlman noted that it can cost more than $200,000 to rescue a baby born three months prematurely. “Wouldn’t it be better to spend those $200,000 on housing, adequate nutrition and good prenatal care?” she asked.
At the conclusion of her lecture, Stahlman offered, “I can take questions. Does anybody want to argue?”
One brave medical student asked what advice she had for doctors in training. Stahlman answered: “What I would hope that I could convince you of is that if you are ever going to practice medicine, the first thing you have to learn is charity. What is charity? Charity is unqualified love.”
According to Dr. Stahlman’s wishes no memorial service will be held.
