Odile Schweisguth

Odile Schweisguth (1913-2002) was a French physician. She is considered the pioneer of Pediatric oncology in Europe.^[1]

She was born in 1913 in Remiremont in the Vosges department in France. After a training in the Red Cross Nursing School, in 1932 she started her medical studies in Nancy. In 1934, her family transferred to Paris and she joined them.^[2] She continued her studies in the University of Paris where she received her first medical degree in 1936. After World War Two she obtained her Doctorate in 1946, with a thesis in oncology under the direction of Pierre Ameuille.^[3]

Then, she oriented her medical interests on pediatrics and started to work with Robert Debré at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris.^[4]

In 1948, René Huguenin, Professor of Pathology and Director of the Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR) in Villejuif, south Paris, one the world’s leading cancer centers, wanted to open a pediatric section within the Institut. He invited Dr. Schweisguth to join the staff.^[5] She started as a consultant and became head of the pediatric oncology ward (the first one of that kind in Europe) in April 1952.^[6] She retired from IGR, but not from the profession, in 1978.^[7]

Bibliography

• Arty R. Coppes-Zantinga, Jean-Michel Zucker, and Max J. Coppes, "Odile Schweisguth, MD, Alma Mater of Pediatric Oncology", Medical and Pediatric Oncology 34:59–60 (2000
• Luisa Massimo, "Odile Schweisguth: Pioneer of European Pediatric Oncology", Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, 20:75–77, 2003

References

1. Massimo 2003.
2. Coppes-Zantinga et al. 2000, p. 59.
3. Coppes-Zantinga et al. 2000, p. 59.
4. Coppes-Zantinga et al. 2000, p. 59.
5. Coppes-Zantinga et al. 2000, p. 59.
6. Coppes-Zantinga et al. 2000, p. 59.
7. Coppes-Zantinga et al. 2000, p. 60.