SPECIAL ARTICLE

Abstract

Dr. Daniel C. Darrow, Hamden, Conn.: To me has fallen the pleasure and honor of presenting the second John Howland Medal to Grover Francis Powers. What I can say adds nothing to a life work which merits the highest recognition which American pediatricians can bestow on a colleague. Nevertheless those who have not had the opportunity to know and work with him would like to know something of the man. He was reared and lived in Lafayette, Indiana, until he was graduated from Purdue. He received his medical degree at Johns Hopkins in 1913 and spent seven years at the Harriet Lane Home. During these years his friends and associates were the remarkable group of men who flocked to the first department of pediatrics in the United States which recognized that study of disease is the most important function. John Howland was assisted by Edwards A. Park, McKim Marriott, Kenneth Blackfan, James L. Gamble, Fred Tisdale, Graham Ross, Wilbur Davidson, Benjamin Kramer, Sam Clausen and others. What extraordinary careers stemmed from this outstanding opportunity to study diseases of children! Powers was influenced most by John Howland, McKim Marriott, Edwards Park, Kenneth Blackfan and Sam Clausen. Of his classmates George Washington on Corner was closest. Of all this galaxy of stars, Grover Powers became the greatest as pediatrician—as master of the science and art of the care of sick infants and children. It is, therefore, enlightening to see what the relatively pure pediatrician can achieve as professor of pediatrics. He brought to pediatrics a good mind which would have assured success in a number of fields.