Helen Berry, MS, helped develop a test to detect Phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic condition in newborns. She did pioneering research on the genetic inability to metabolize an amino acid in protein, which causes severe mental retardation if untreated. She spent years developing a dietary supplement that made it possible for patients with PKU to eat a less restrictive diet, the first major improvement in treatment of PKU in 30 years.

Frederic Silverman, MD, (director of Radiology from 1947-1975) pioneered the use of diagnostic radiology to identify child abuse. His landmark paper, “The Battered Child Syndrome,” co-authored with C. Henry Kempe, appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 1962, but it took nearly 20 years for physicians to openly acknowledge the reality of child abuse, and even longer for many hospitals to develop protocols and to hire physicians, nurses, and social workers who were willing to deal with this emerging problem.