{{Short description|American pediatrician (1927–2019)}} {{Infobox person | name = Doris Louise Wethers | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|12|14}} | birth_place = Passaic, New Jersey, United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|01|28|1927|12|14}} | death_place = Yonkers, New York, United States | nationality = | other_names = | alma_mater = Queens College<br />Yale University School of Medicine | occupation = Pediatrician | years_active = | employer = Knickerbocker Hospital<br />Sydenham Hospital<br />St. Luke's–Roosevelt Hospital Center | known_for = Sickle-cell disease research | notable_works = | spouse = {{marriage |Garvall H. Booker |1953 |1996 |end=d.}}<ref name="nyt" /> | children = 2 }}
'''Doris Louise Wethers''' (December 14, 1927 – January 28, 2019) was an American pediatrician known for her research on sickle-cell disease.
Wethers was born in Passaic, New Jersey on December 14, 1927, to William and Lillian (née Wilkinson) Wethers.<ref name="nyt">{{cite web |last1=Roberts |first1=Sam |title=Dr. Doris Wethers, 91, on Front Lines Against Sickle Cell, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/obituaries/dr-doris-wethers-on-front-lines-against-sickle-cell-dies-at-91.html |work=The New York Times |accessdate=9 February 2019 |date=7 Feb 2019}}</ref> She graduated magna cum laude from Queens College in 1948, majoring in chemistry, and earned her M.D. at Yale University School of Medicine in 1952 (becoming the third black woman to do so),<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)30442-8/fulltext|title=Doris Louise Wethers Obituary|last=Marcus|first=Adam|date=March 9, 2019|website=The Lancet|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30442-8 |s2cid=72333572 |archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=February 9, 2019|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref> after which Wethers spent ten years as a pediatrician in private practice. Her office was located next to the office of her father, physician William Wethers.
Wethers became the first black attending physician at St. Luke's–Roosevelt Hospital Center<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2019/feb/21/dr-doris-l-wethers-led-breakthroughs-sickle-cell-a/|title=Dr. Doris L. Wethers, led breakthroughs in sickle-cell anemia|website=amsterdamnews.com|date=21 February 2019 |access-date=2020-02-09}}</ref> in 1958. She served as medical director for Speedwell Services for Children from 1961 to 1973, and as director of pediatrics and opening sickle-cell anemia programs at Knickerbocker Hospital (1965–1973), Sydenham Hospital (1969–1974), and St. Luke's Hospital (1974–1979).<ref name="nyt" /> She received a grant for research on sickle-cell disease in 1979.
She conducted research at St. Luke's–Roosevelt Hospital Center and conducted in-patient rounds for medical students learning about sickle-cell disease.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.fofweb.com/History/HistRefMain.asp?iPin=AFEBW0729&SID=2&DatabaseName=African-American+History+Online&InputText=%22sickle+cell+anemia%22&SearchStyle=&dTitle=Wethers%2C+Doris+L.&TabRecordType=Biography&BioCountPass=11&SubCountPass=3&DocCountPass=0&ImgCountPass=1&MapCountPass=0&FedCountPass=&MedCountPass=1&NewsCountPass=0&RecPosition=1&AmericanData=&WomenData=&AFHCData=Set&IndianData=&WorldData=&AncientData=&GovernmentData=|title = Wethers, Doris L.|accessdate = 24 February 2015|website = Facts on File, History Database Search|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150225023212/http://www.fofweb.com/History/HistRefMain.asp?iPin=AFEBW0729&SID=2&DatabaseName=African-American+History+Online&InputText=%22sickle+cell+anemia%22&SearchStyle=&dTitle=Wethers,+Doris+L.&TabRecordType=Biography&BioCountPass=11&SubCountPass=3&DocCountPass=0&ImgCountPass=1&MapCountPass=0&FedCountPass=&MedCountPass=1&NewsCountPass=0&RecPosition=1&AmericanData=&WomenData=&AFHCData=Set&IndianData=&WorldData=&AncientData=&GovernmentData=|archive-date = 25 February 2015|url-status = dead}}</ref> Wethers served as director of the hospital's sickle cell program until retiring in 1999.
Wethers also co-founded the Foundation for Research and Education in Sickle Cell Disease with Drs. Yvette Fay Francis-McBarnette and Lila A. Fenwick.<ref name="nyt" />
In 1987, Wethers acted as the chairwoman of a panel on sickle-cell screening commissioned by the National Institutes of Health.<ref name="times-87">{{cite web |author1=AP |title=PANEL FAVORS SICKLE CELL TESTS FOR ALL BABIES |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/11/us/panel-favors-sickle-cell-tests-for-all-babies.html |work=The New York Times |accessdate=9 February 2019 |date=11 Apr 1987}}</ref> The panel recommended that all newborn babies, regardless of ethnicity, be tested routinely for sickle-cell anemia; by 2006 this practice had been implemented in all fifty states.<ref name="nyt" />
Wethers died after a stroke on January 28, 2019, in Yonkers, New York, aged 91.<ref name="nyt" />
== Works == *{{Cite web| title = Doris L. Wethers| work = Microsoft Academic Search| accessdate = 2015-02-26| url = http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Author/25018674/doris-l-wethers}}
== See also == *Sickle cell disease *Angella D. Ferguson
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wethers, Doris L.}} Category:1927 births Category:American pediatricians Category:American women pediatricians Category:African-American medical doctors Category:African-American women medical doctors Category:2019 deaths Category:Place of birth missing Category:Yale School of Medicine alumni Category:Queens College, City University of New York alumni Category:20th-century African-American people Category:21st-century African-American people Category:20th-century African-American women Category:21st-century African-American women