Gertie F. Marx

{{Infobox medical person | name = Gertie Florentine Marx | birth_name =  | birth_date = 13 February 1912 | birth_place = [[Frankfurt]], [[German Empire]] | death_date = 25 January 2004 (aged 92) | death_place = [[The Bronx]], New York City | citizenship = | education =[[Goethe University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]] <br> [[University of Bern]] (M.D.) | occupation = [[Anesthesiologist]] | known_for = 'The mother of obstetric anaesthesia' | profession = [[Physician]] | field = [[Anesthesiology]] | work_institutions = [[Mount Sinai Beth Israel|Beth Israel Hospital]] <br> [[Albert Einstein College of Medicine]] | years_active = 1939-1995 | specialism = [[Obstetric anesthesiology]] }} '''Gertie Florentine Marx''' (1912–2004) was an obstetric anesthesiologist, "internationally known as 'the mother of [[obstetric anaesthesia]]'".<ref name=IJOA>Gerard M. Bassell, [https://www.obstetanesthesia.com/article/S0959-289X(04)00043-3/pdf In Memoriam: Gertie F. Marx, MD (1912–2004)], ''International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia'', Vol. 13 (2004), pp.141–143</ref> Marx pioneered the use of [[epidural analgesia]] during childbirth, and was the founding editor of the quarterly ''Obstetric Anesthesia Digest''.<ref>Luca Prono, [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gertie-F-Marx Gertie F. Marx, American physician], britannica.com. Accessed 4 August 2019.</ref>

==Life== Gertie Marx was born in [[Frankfurt]] on February 13, 1912, and attended medical school at the [[Goethe University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]] from 1931. A Jew, she emigrated to [[Switzerland]] in 1936 and completed her medical studies at the [[University of Bern]], graduating in 1937. Later that year she travelled on to the United States and settled in [[New York City]]. In 1939 she secured an internship at [[Mount Sinai Beth Israel|Beth Israel Hospital]], and in 1940 became the first resident in a new anesthesiology residency program at the hospital. In 1943 she joined the attending staff at Beth Israel Medical Center. In 1955 she moved to the [[Albert Einstein College of Medicine]], and remained there until retirement as Emeritus Professor in 1995.<ref name=IJOA/>

==Honors and awards== Marx received numerous recognitions for her role in anesthesiology. In 1988, Marx became the second woman to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the [[American Society of Anesthesiologists]]. The American Society for Regional Anesthesia also presented Gertie with a Distinguished Service Award (DSA) in 1990.<ref>American Society for Regional Anesthesia, [https://www.asra.com/about-asra/recognition-awards/distinguished-service-award Distinguished Service Award], Accessed 4 December 2023.</ref> Marx was awarded the College Medal by the [[Royal College of Anaesthetists]] in a 1993 ceremony in London presented by [[Queen Elizabeth II]].

==Bibliography== As well as the books listed below, Marx authored over 150 articles and many textbook chapters.<ref name=IJOA/> * Gertie F. Marx (1979). ''Clinical Management of Mother and Newborn''. Springer-Verlag. * Gertie F. Marx (1978). ''Anesthetic considerations in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy''. Year Book Medical Publishers. * Gertie F. Marx (1973). ''Parturition and perinatology''. F.A. Davis Co. * Gertie F. Marx; Louis R. Orkin (1969). ''Physiology of obstetric anesthesia''. C.C. Thomas.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marx, Gertie F.}} [[Category:1912 births]] [[Category:2004 deaths]] [[Category:Women anesthesiologists]] [[Category:American anesthesiologists]] [[Category:American obstetricians]] [[Category:German expatriates in Switzerland]] [[Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States]] [[Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States]] [[Category:Goethe University Frankfurt alumni]] [[Category:University of Bern alumni]] [[Category:Albert Einstein College of Medicine faculty]] [[Category:20th-century German women medical doctors]] [[Category:20th-century German medical doctors]]