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Leona Baumgartner

Leona Baumgartner

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New York City Health Commissioner Leona Baumgartner, circa 1956. (WNYC Archive Collections/NYPR Archives)

Leona Baumgartner was New York City's first female Health Commissioner.

Dr. Leona Baumgartner (August 18, 1902—January 15, 1991) was born in Chicago and grew up in Kansas, where she earned her master's degree in 1925. She obtained her Ph.D. and M.D. degrees from Yale, and did her internship in New York City. She joined the New York City Department of Health in 1937, becoming Health Commissioner in 1954; in 1958 she was one of the few women physicians to visit the Soviet Union. In 1962 Baumgartner became head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, where she was involved in several vaccination campaigns and in water fluoridation.

Leona Baumgartner appears in the following:

At the Forefront of Death: Cancer in Midcentury

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

By Hilary C. Aquino

D.I.Y. pap smears and other 1950s anti-cancer tools.

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Leona Baumgartner, Elvis, and the Fight Against Polio

Sunday, August 18, 2013

By Hilary C. Aquino

The idea that a hideous monster in the form of a disease could attack the vitality of the nation's youth was a familiar story line to movie-going audiences in 1950s America.

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Golden Anniversary of the Women's City Club

Saturday, January 22, 1966

50 years of the Women's City Club of New York.

Leona Baumgartner Discusses her Trip to Russia

Saturday, July 12, 1958

This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.

Leona Baumgartner discusses her month-long trip in April 1958 to the Soviet Union as part of a delegation of six American physicians, which came after a delegation of Soviet physicians visited ...

Leona Baumgartner

Dr. Leona Baumgartner

Sunday, January 26, 1958

Dr. Leona Baumgartner, City Health Commissioner, discusses fluoridation and the polio vaccine.

Leona Baumgartner

Monday, December 17, 1956

The Salk vaccine - questions answered.

Polio Spot Announcements - Leona Baumgartner

Wednesday, July 18, 1956

Commissioner of Health Leona Baumgartner reads spot announcements increasing awareness of the new polio vaccine.

Leona Baumgartner

Sunday, March 18, 1956

Tooth decay, Salk vaccine, polio and cancer top the list.

Public Health Aspects of Aging

Wednesday, October 19, 1955

By H. D. Kruse / Henry L. McCarthy / Henry W. Colby / Leona Baumgartner

How are public health institutions coping with an increasingly aging population?

Leona Baumgartner Answers Questions About The Salk Vaccine and Polio

Tuesday, October 04, 1955

Dr. Leona Baumgartner, Commissioner of Health, answers questions about the Salk Vaccine used to treat Poliomyelitis from a typical New York City father.

International Health Conference

Thursday, June 02, 1955

Dr. Jonas Salk slide lecture on polio vaccine.

Leona Baumgartner Reports on the First Shots of the Polio Vaccine of 1955

Thursday, May 19, 1955

Leona Baumgartner, Commissioner of New York City's Department of Health, reports on the first shots of the polio vaccine to thousands of children at 150 public schools for the start of the spring polio season.

Leona Baumgartner

Interview concerning Salk Vaccine.

Tuesday, April 12, 1955

Implications of effective Salk vaccine.

Leona Baumgartner

"A report" on polio.

Monday, April 11, 1955

This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.

Dr Baumgartner's message to WNYC listeners on the eve of her visit to Ann Arbor to "listen first hand" to reports about the efficacy of the Salk vaccine against polio.

Audio ...

3-D in child care.

Wednesday, March 02, 1955

This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.

Three dimensions on child care:

New York City Health Commissioner Leona Baumgartner on the medical aspect of child care and day care centers.
Katherine F. Lenroot on ...

Problems Confronting Older People

Thursday, December 16, 1954

Commissioner of Health, Dr. Leona Baumgartner, Dr. Howard Rusk, Dr. Henry Colby of the Department of Hospitals, and Dr. Leonard Covello discuss the problems confronting older people at a celebration at the East Harlem Day Center for Older Persons. Commissioner Henry L. McCarthy acts as host.

...

Cancer in Mid-Century [Cancer Alert]

Tuesday, October 26, 1954

By Leona Baumgartner

Progress and concerns with the dreaded disease.

Polio Demonstrations

Monday, April 26, 1954

Health Commissioner Leona Baumgartner and an unnamed doctor describe the polio vaccine trials that will take place in New York in the coming months.

Baby is 4 months old.

Thursday, March 25, 1948

This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.

Leona Baumgartner speaks about a hypothetical four-month old.

Station ID interrupted.

1 s. 16 in. Inner to outer grooves.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal ...