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DOI: 10.1055/s-2003-42582
Remembering Maureen Andrew
Publication History
Publication Date:
30 September 2003 (online)
August 1981. I meet Maureen for the first time. I am struck by her energy, enthusiasm and unbridled optimism. She has recently returned to Canada from New York where she completed a fellowship in pediatric hematology. This is the beginning of a brilliant career. Over lunch in a bistro opposite McMaster University Medical Centre, she talks about bleeds and clots in infants and children. She is appalled by the lack of scientific data. Isn't it scandalous that we don't even know what are normal coagulation test results in pediatric populations? She is determined to change all that. Over the next 20 years she does.
November 1986. I am in the midst of testing the effects of heparin in newborn piglets when the phone rings. The news is incomprehensible. Robbie has died. Robbie? The beautiful baby who was carried by his mom when she returned to work within days of his birth? The breezy little boy who charmed Maureen's students and staff during the traditional summer pool party with his infectious bounce and laughter? From now on, Maureen will live in a world of grief and pain. Yet, she continues on her path as ever more successful researcher and teacher with great discipline and devotion.
May 1998. Maureen gives the Society for Pediatric Research Presidential Address at the Annual Meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in New Orleans.[1] She describes her research program. She maps out what has been accomplished, and what remains to be done. She is still passionate, but also pained. Her last slide is a picture of Robbie.