Theodore Learnard Badger (TLB), was Clinical Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Chairman of the Cardiopulmonary Unit at New England Deaconess Hospital, and specialized in the study and treatment of bronchopulmonary diseases, especially tuberculosis. TLB was born in Boston, Mass. on 17 November 1899 to Arthur Campbell Badger and Grace Richardson (Learnard) Badger. He married Alice Wetherbee in 1935. After serving in the US Navy 1918-1919, Badger received the AB from Yale College in 1922 and the MD from HMS in 1926. TLB completed an internship at Massachusetts General Hospital where he developed an interest in bronchopulmonary disease. After spending several years in New York he joined the faculty at HMS in 1931, and rose to become Clinical Professor of Medicine, 1964-1968. At the invitation of George Minot in 1931, TLB accepted a post as a research fellow at the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory at Boston City Hospital (BCH); he became Assistant Physician in 1948, and was Associate Physician 1952-1968. He was also appointed Chief of the Thoracic Clinic at BCH in 1939. TLB was the Chief of Staff at the Channing Home for Tuberculosis in Brookline, Mass. 1936-1955, and Director 1955-1958. Simultaneously he served on the staff of the New England Deaconess Hospital (NEDH) 1931-1980, acting as chairman of general medicine 1960-1964, and as chairman of the cardiopulmonary unit 1967-1980. He also consulted with many other hospitals in the Boston area. TLB served in the US Army as Chief of the Medical Service, 5th General Hospital (Harvard) 1942-1945.
TLB's publications include Tuberculosis in Nurses: Clinical Observations on Its Pathogenesis as Seen in a Fifteen Year Follow-up of 745 Student Nurses (1952), and many articles about tuberculosis and pulmonary diseases. He served as president of the American Trudeau Society and vice-president of the National Tuberculosis Association and participated in many other professional organizations. Badger retired in January 1980 and died later that year. Friends and colleagues established the Theodore L. Badger Lectureship in his honor at HMS in 1972.
From the guide to the Papers, 1934-1981., (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Center for the History of Medicine.)
