Helen Brooke Taussig (May 24, 1898 – May 20, 1986) was an American cardiologist, working in Baltimore and Boston, who founded the field of pediatric cardiology. She is credited with developing the concept for a procedure that would extend the lives of children born with Tetralogy of Fallot (the most common cause of blue baby syndrome). This concept was applied in practice as a procedure known as the Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunt. The procedure was developed by Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas, who were Taussig's colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Taussig was partially deaf following an ear infection in childhood; in early adulthood this progressed to full deafness. To compensate for her loss of hearing, she learned to use lip-reading techniques and hearing aids to speak with her patients. Taussing also developed a method of using her fingers, rather than a stethoscope, to feel the rhythm of their heartbeats. Some of her innovations have been attributed to her ability to diagnose heart problems by touch rather than by sound. Taussig is also known for her work in banning thalidomide and was widely recognized as a highly skilled physician. She was the first woman to be elected head of the American Heart Association. She was more proud of the fact that she was the first pediatrician to be elected head of the AMA; and in 1964 she was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Early life and education Helen Brooke Taussig was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 24, 1898, to F. W. Taussig and Edith Thomas Guild, the youngest of four children. Her father was an economist at Harvard University, and her mother was one of the first students at Radcliffe College, a women's college. She spent summers as a child in Cotuit, Massachusetts, and later in life had a home there. When Taussig was 11 years old, her mother died of tuberculosis. Helen also contracted the disease and was ill for several years, severely affecting her ability to do schoolwork. She also struggled with severe dyslexia through her early school years and was partially deaf. Despite this, she did well at school due to diligent work and extensive tutoring from her father. She graduated from Cambridge School for Girls in 1917, then studied for two years at Radcliffe College before earning a bachelor's degree and Phi Beta Kappa membership from the University of California, Berkeley in 1921. After graduating, Taussig