Pritchard, Elizabeth Gaitland, 1902-1963

Elizabeth Gaitland Pritchard was born in Carboro, NC. She attended The Madeira School in Washington, DC, and graduated from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, MA in the 1920's. After working in the theatre in New York, Pritchard returned to Washington and worked in a local store's advertising department. A near-fatal car accident changed her outlook on life, leading her away from her acting and advertising careers, and into the New Deal-era Public Health Service.

She began doing public relations work for the National Health Survey as editor of The Health Officer from 1935-1936, a monthly publication for state and local health agencies, as well as editing reports for the Subcommittee on Medical Care of the Interdepartmental Committee to Coordinate Health and Welfare Activities of the Federal Government. In 1938, she became Special Assistant to the Secretary of the National Health Conference. She collaborated in the preparation and editing of The Nation's Medical Research, volume 5 of Science and Public Policy (1947), also known as the Steelman Report. In 1949, she was one of Surgeon General Scheele's advisors to the Second World Health Assembly in Rome. She served with the Section on Community Organization of the 1950 White House Conference on Children and Youth; was a member of the Section on Public Education and Information of the Conference on Chronic Disease in 1951; served on and prepared the report of the Task Force on Rehabilitation in the PHS, 1951-1952; served on the editorial board of the Section on Religious Activities of the 1961 White House Conference on Aging; and served on the staff of the Study Group on Mission and Organization of the Public Health Service in 1960.

During her PHS tenure she also wrote speeches and articles for Surgeon Generals Thomas Parran, Leonard Scheele, Leroy Burney, and Luther Terry. Her erudite and analytical mind contributed greatly to her career as writer, advisor, compiler, and editor, helping to shape PHS policy for over two decades.

From the guide to the Elizsabeth G. Pritchard Papers, 1936-1959, (History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine)