Edwards A. Park (doctor)

After completing his internships, Park first got a job in private practice from 1909 - 1912 where he worked for Dr. Theodore Janeway as an office assistant. It was with Dr. Janeway that Park published his first paper in 1910 that focused on the contractions of arteries, which they had studied in vitro. In 1912, Park wrote his first pediatrics paper while studying pathology at Welfare Island. During that summer, Park also went to Marburg, Germany to study under Dr. Schmidt, the world's leading expert in rickets at the time. While abroad, Park was offered a position by Dr. Howland to join his first pediatric staff at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Although Park initially declined because he was working with Dr. Janeway at that time and felt obliged to stay in the position, he later joined the small staff in the effort of creating a new full-time department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins.

When World War I broke out in 1914, Red Cross sent Park to Le Havre, France to run an orphanage for Belgian children. With a confined staff of only three doctors, a nurse and an executive secretary, Park utilized very limited resources to establish a clinic and a small hospital in the local neighborhood. During this time, Park witnessed first-hand the effects of poverty and malnutrition on disease, which is why he later decided to hire Ruth Washington in the summer of 1918 to build a department of social service.

In 1919, Park returned to the United States and, in particular: Baltimore, Maryland. Following his research with Dr. Howland, Park went to Yale where he would take on the role as the Professor of Pediatrics for seven years. In 1927, Dr. Howland's untimely death caused Park to return to Johns Hopkins to take over as the Professor of Pediatrics and Chief-of-Pediatrics. In 1946, Park was also named the Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine. As Chief-of-Pediatrics of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Park established multiple specialty clinics under pediatrics, with the tuberculosis, cardiac, endocrine, and psychiatric clinics bringing fame to the Harriet Lane Home.[3] He was also known for his daily noon conferences with his staff where an intern, resident and sub-specialist would all review a case. After they presented Park would question all parts, reviewing all steps and small details. Of his questions, one student described them as being "asked softly, hesitantly, almost apologetically, but each one was apropos, pointed and searching"[1] His attention to detail also applied to all publications that came from the Harriet Lane Home, as Park wrote about 30 papers over his twenty years as Chief-of-Pediatrics and reviewed over 100 papers written by his staff. However, Park's most notable achievement as pediatrician in chief stemmed from his well-rounded approach to combining pediatric treatment with holistic research, training, and community involvement.

Dr. Park spent half of his life working at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

When Howland died in 1926, Park was inaugurated as the new Professor of Pediatrics who would oversee the operations of the Harriet Lane Home. Thus, Park became the successor of Howland and the third director of the Harriet Lane Home in the two decades that would follow (1926-1947). Only six months after settling into his new position, Park soon came to the realization that children in the Baltimore dispensaries were receiving significantly lower quality care as compared to children who could afford to be treated at the hospital. Frustrated at this social phenomenon, Park went to Dr. Edward Carter, who was then a cardiologist in the Department of Medicine. Park asked Carter whether he would be supportive of his starting a pediatric clinic. On 1 December 1927, Park successfully collaborated with the Rockefeller Institute and the Commonwealth Fund to establish a pediatric heart disease clinic at Johns Hopkins in the outpatient dispensary.[4]

Park's contributions to the Harriet Lane Home were indisputable in the history of Johns Hopkins medicine. Before Park's arrival, the Harriet Lane Home was merely an obscure clinic where pediatrics was viewed as a specialty that held very little status. Although the full-time system had recently begun to flourish in the United States, it was difficult for most of the hospitals and clinics to adhere entirely to its principles. Under Howland, the university started to pour in intellectual and financial investments to the full-time pediatric system, but Park ultimately played the transitional role in solidifying the longevity of the system. Park invoked concerns about access to and cost of pediatric health care and advocated for central focus surrounding a few particular diseases.[2]