Awesome Women: Dr. Marie Valdés-Dapena

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Dr. Marie Valdés-Dapena

Today Tuesday October 2, 2012 the WOD is Dr. Marie Valdés-Dapena (1921- Oct 1, 2012) Pathologist, pioneering researcher on SIDS, and mother of 11 children. She lived an extraordinary life as a pioneer in the study of sudden infant death syndrome; a leading pediatric pathologist who was among the first to recognize what is now known as child abuse; and a working mother of 11 children in an era when few women worked and far fewer were doctors. In fact, she was performing an autopsy at nine months pregnant. She was watching a clock - timing her contractions, determined to complete the job before delivering her own baby.

The grandmother of sudden infant death research, Dapena, whom everyone refers to as "Molly," developed her expertise in pediatric pathology as a consultant to the Philadelphia medical examiner before relocating to Florida. Dr. Valdés-Dapena was best known to the public as a pathologist in the biggest maternal infanticide case in recorded history - Marie Noe's murder of eight babies in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. In the 1960s, a local couple became the most famous bereaved parents in America, as their infants died one after another. One of the first child autopsies Molly Dapena ever did for the city was that of Constance Noe, baby number five, in 1958. She went on to assist or observe on all the others through number ten -- which she believes is the most babies ever lost by one mother.

A Philadelphia Magazine investigation revealed the deaths were indeed tragic, but perhaps not unexplainable.

Dr.Dapena moved back to the Philadelphia area to be closer to her children when she was 77. She died Sunday at the Rose Tree Place retirement community near Media. She had struggled with advanced dementia for many years.

Today Tuesday October 2, 2012 the WOD is Dr. Marie Valdés-Dapena (1921- Oct 1, 2012) Pathologist, pioneering researcher on SIDS, and mother of 11 children. She lived an extraordinary life as a pioneer in the study of sudden infant death syndrome; a leading pediatric pathologist who was among the first to recognize what is now known as child abuse; and a working mother of 11 children in an era when few women worked and far fewer were doctors. In fact, she was performing an autopsy at nine months pregnant. She was watching a clock - timing her contractions, determined to complete the job before delivering her own baby.
The grandmother of sudden infant death research, Dapena, whom everyone refers to as "Molly," developed her expertise in pediatric pathology as a consultant to the Philadelphia medical examiner before relocating to Florida. Dr. Valdés-Dapena was best known to the public as a pathologist in the biggest maternal infanticide case in recorded history - Marie Noe's murder of eight babies in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. In the 1960s, a local couple became the most famous bereaved parents in America, as their infants died one after another. One of the first child autopsies Molly Dapena ever did for the city was that of Constance Noe, baby number five, in 1958. She went on to assist or observe on all the others through number ten -- which she believes is the most babies ever lost by one mother.
A Philadelphia Magazine investigation revealed the deaths were indeed tragic, but perhaps not unexplainable.

Dr.Dapena moved back to the Philadelphia area to be closer to her children when she was 77. She died Sunday at the Rose Tree Place retirement community near Media. She had struggled with advanced dementia for many years.