Dunham, Ethel C. (Ethel Collins), 1883-

Dunham, premature infant specialist and child advocate, was instrumental in establishing national (US) standards for the care of newborns. Dunham graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1918, and completed an internship in pediatrics under Dr. John Howland in 1920. Dunham then was appointed instructor at Yale Medical School in 1920, was promoted to assistant and then associate clinical professor in 1927. During this time, Dunham became a consultant to the United States Children's Bureau. In 1935, Dunham left Yale and was appointed chief of child development at the Children's Bureau. In 1957, the American Pediatric Society awarded Dunham their highest honor, the John Howland Medal, the first woman pediatrician to receive the award.

Ethel Collins Dunham, 1883-1969, graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1918, and completed an internship in pediatrics under Dr. John Howland in 1920. Dunham then was appointed instructor at Yale Medical School in 1920, was promoted to assistant and then associate clinical professor in 1927. During this time, Dunham became a consultant to the United States Children’s Bureau .

In 1935, Dunham left Yale and was appointed chief of child development at the Children’s Bureau, where her life partner, Martha May Eliot, was appointed assistant chief. Dunham, whose specialty was in newborn babies, and in particular, premature babies, established national (US) standards for the care of newborns. These standards were published as Standards and Recommendations for the Hospital Care of Newborn Infants, Full Term and Premature (1943). In Premature Infants: A Manual for Physicians, she expanded on her research to include information from other countries.

From 1949-1951, Dunham worked at the World Health Organization, studying premature birth with an international group of experts in Geneva. When Martha May Eliot was appointed head of the Children’s Bureau in 1951, she and Dunham moved to Washington, D.C.. In 1957, the American Pediatric Society awarded Dunham their highest honor, the John Howland Medal, the first woman pediatrician to receive the award. When Eliot resigned in 1957, the two women relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In addition to her public advocacy work and developing standards for newborn infant care, Dunham also championed research. In the mid-to late 1950s, Dunham became interested in opossum babies to see if correlations could be made between opossums (who as marsupials, are born very pre-mature, and develop in the mother's pouch), and premature human babies.