Dr. Howard A. Pearson, a noted pediatrician and pediatric hematologist oncologist at Yale, will be awarded the American Pediatric Society's 2002 John Howland Medal later this spring.
The John Howland Medal is considered the most prestigious award in academic pediatrics. Pearson will receive the award at the American Pediatric Society meeting May 4-7 in Baltimore, Maryland.
The John Howland Medal honors an individual who has advanced the study of children and their diseases, the prevention of illness and the promotion of health in children, and the promotion of pediatric education and research.
Pearson, professor emeritus of pediatrics, has made major contributions to the understanding and treatment of a number of serious blood disorders and cancers in children, including sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. In the late 1960s, he developed a program for neonatal diagnosis of hemoglobinopathies that has been established in 43 U.S. states and has reduced early mortality in children with sickle cell anemia. His study and treatment of children with a type of anemia associated with pancreatic insufficiency, called Pearson's Marrow Pancreas Syndrome, has led to a greater understanding of that disorder. He also enhanced scientific understanding of lymphoblastic leukemia in identical twins.
Pearson's contributions toward the prevention of common diseases in children have had national import. He authored a 1969 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) statement advocating the use of iron-fortified infant formula for children not being breastfed, which has resulted in a decrease in iron deficiency anemia in high-risk populations. While serving as president of the AAP, he served on a task force that advocated putting infants to sleep on their backs to reduce the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). This recommendation was subsequently accepted and implemented by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control as part of the national "Back to Sleep Campaign," and has been credited with substantially decreasing incidences of SIDS in the United States.
In 1986, actor Paul Newman enlisted Pearson to help create the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang Camp for children with cancer and serious blood diseases. Pearson helped design the camp and its medical program and was head of its medical and nursing staff.
An avid amateur pediatric historian, Pearson is the author of "The Centennial History of the American Pediatric Society," published in 1988. While AAP president, he was instrumental in establishing the Historical Archives Center and chaired a committee that is conducting oral histories on important American pediatricians. He has served on numerous professional pediatric councils and on the editorial boards of a number of pediatric publications.
A member of the Yale faculty since 1968, ,Pearson established a new division of pediatric hematology oncology at the University. In 1974 he was appointed chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Yale and chief of pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He remained in these positions until 1987. His previous honors include the medical school's Francis Gilman Blake Award for outstanding teaching in the medical sciences, the Martin Luther King Award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for his research on sickle cell anemia and the Distinguished Career Award of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology for his contributions to the understanding and treatment of blood diseases and cancer in children.
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