If you were born in 1954 or later, your first test taken shortly after birth is called the Apgar score. The score is named after its founder, Dr. Virginia Apgar, an obstetric anesthesiologist who was interested in the effects of anesthesia during a mother's labor. This interest led her to the discovery of the Apgar score. Virginia Apgar was born in 1909 in Westfield, New Jersey (Rose, 2009). She attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and then studied medicine at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York in the 1930s (Rose, 2009). At the time of the stock market crash in 1929, Virginia Apgar was headed to the College of Physicians and Surgeons and was in financial crisis. She had to borrow money from family friends to attend and ended up $4,000 in debt (Pearce, 2005). She was discouraged from doing her surgical internship because many women failed in a male-dominated, crowded and competitive specialty. She was then persuaded to go into anesthesiology after her abilities were recognized by another doctor. Virginia Apgar got into anesthesiology at a time when it was primarily practiced by nurses. By 1945, anesthetics were primarily administered by doctors rather than nurses (Pearce, 2005). She threatened to resign when anesthesiologists were not allowed to charge professional fees; the conflict resolved.Dr. Virginia Apgar was interested in obstetric anesthesia, studying its effects on the mother and unborn child, as fetal monitors were not yet invented and newborns did not receive the attention right after birth as they are today. Virginia Apgar was determined to know how best to assess the health and survival rates of newborns immediately after birth. Discovering Apgar S...... middle of paper ...... woman at her job, from birth defects to public health education to fundraising for research . She made great contributions not only to obstetric health, but also to public health.ReferencesNational Library of Medicine. (2003). Changing the face of medicine: Virginia Apgar. Accessed January 21, 2014, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_12.html.NIH Medline Plus. 2010. Dr. Virginia Apgar: Keeping score at baby's first cry. Retrieved February 15, 2014 from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/winter10/articles/winter10pg25-26.html. Pearce, J. (2005). Virginia Apgar (1909-1974): neurological assessment of the newborn. European Neurology, 54(3), 132-134.Rose, D. (2009). March of Dimes. Virginia Apgar. Accessed January 21, 2014 from http://www.marchofdimes.com/mission/virginia-apgar.aspx.