Helen Taussig was the founder of pediatric cardiology and one of the first outstanding women in American medicine. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to an academic family, Taussig's father was a Harvard economist and her mother one of the first students at Radcliffe College. Taussig also studied at Radcliffe, where she became a tennis champion, and then moved to the University of California at Berkeley to broaden her knowledge. After receiving her bachelor's degree in 1921, Taussig enrolled at Harvard Medical School--as a special student, because women were not admitted to the regular program then. She transferred to Boston University Medical School where she was directed toward specializing in the heart by Dr. Alexander Begg (1881-1940), who also encouraged her to complete her studies at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland. After receiving her medical degree from Johns Hopkins in 1927, Taussig completed an internship in pediatrics and in 1930 became...