Prenatal ultrasound pioneer passes away
A trailblazing radiologist who was drawn to the specialty partly because she struggled to comprehend written words but excelled at unpuzzling visual patterns has died at 73, according to a long-form obituary published Oct. 21 in the New York Times.
Beryl Benacerraf, MD, may be best remembered professionally as the Harvard radiologist who, perhaps more than any other physician, helped propel prenatal ultrasound from a rough and uncommon art to a fine and ubiquitous science.
Her top achievements included discovering an association between thickening skin patches on fetal necks and Down syndrome and advancing medical science’s understanding of fetal hearing, according to the Times.
Along with the likely dyslexia that pushed her to rely on her remarkable visual prowess in order to succeed academically and clinically, Benacerraf overcame a time of medical joblessness in Boston and a period of skepticism bordering on scorn at the hands of peers.
From the obit:
Her first papers suggesting ultrasound’s potential for offering an effective, less invasive form of fetal screening—available to women of any age—were published in 1985. They were not warmly received.
‘I was almost booed off the stage at several national meetings, and papers emerged discrediting my research and me,’ Dr. Benacerraf said in an interview with the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology published last year. ‘I was devastated, but that much more determined to prevail because I knew I was right.’”
Benacerraf would go on to build a long and distinguished career at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Eventually she branched out from prenatal to women’s imaging, focusing on diagnosing and guiding care for endometriosis, pelvic pain and ovarian cancer.
Dr. Beryl Benacerraf leaves behind her husband, the Harvard and Mass General Brigham cardiologist Peter Libby, MD, and a son, a daughter and three grandchildren.
Read the full 1,200-word New York Times tribute here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.