Letters

Dr. Howard Pearson's legacy

Having trained in the Yale pediatrics residency at the end of Dr. Howard Pearson’s tenure as chair, we enjoyed reading the history of Yale pediatrics in the recent issue of Yale Medicine Magazine.

However, the list of Dr. Pearson’s landmark achievements is much longer than those listed in the article’s brief summary of his chairmanship.

For a more detailed and personal description of Dr. Pearson’s life and career, we refer readers to the oral history written by his grandson, Matthew Pearson, who was a 10th-grader at the time of the interviews. That oral history helped Matthew attain his Family Life merit badge, ultimately leading to his Eagle Scout certification. The history was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics: m.yale.edu/pearson-history/

There, you can read about Dr. Pearson's ground-breaking contributions to pediatric hematology, including the discovery of functional asplenia in people with sickle cell disease; the first description of the “born-again spleen”; his early work on standards of care for people with thalassemia; his description of one of the first mitochondrial diseases to be recognized, Pearson’s marrow-pancreas syndrome; and his key role in the iron fortification of infant formula, which was adopted by the WIC program. This policy essentially abolished severe iron deficiency anemia in a high-risk population of infants in New Haven—findings that were replicated nationally.

And, as a bonus, you can learn about the bawdy song lyrics that Dr. Pearson penned as a student, get confirmation that Paul Newman did indeed have “very blue eyes,” and find out why Dr. Pearson had a lifelong hatred of pea soup and creamed chipped beef.

Things we didn’t learn as residents.

David J. Birnkrant, MD, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Jane B. Black, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Yale Pediatrics residents 1985-1988

Vital dyslexia research

I deeply appreciated the chance to learn more about the Yale Program for Learning Disability Research, and the possibility of early genetic screening for dyslexia risk, in the latest issue of the Yale Medicine Magazine. Dr. Jeffrey Gruen is absolutely right that early interventions for dyslexic students can be very successful, and yet far too few children receive them because of our wait-to-fail model in schools. As the parent of a dyslexic learner, I am familiar with both the power of interventions before third grade and the devastating impact of our current approach, where schools wait until a child has fallen significantly behind to provide services. A genetic test that accurately screens for dyslexia in preschool and kindergarten, such as the one Dr. Gruen and colleagues are piloting in a clinical trial, could be transformative for our educational system, and most importantly, for our students. Many bright kids with dyslexia don’t leave school intact. Perhaps this research will change that.

Anna Nordberg, SY ’01, Journalist, San Francisco, California

Join the conversation: We welcome hearing from our readers! Please send your thoughts and ideas to ymm@yale.edu or Yale Medicine Magazine, 50 Division Street, 2 Science Park, New Haven, CT 06511. Letters will be published, as space permits.