Madelaine Ray Brown (1898 – June 14, 1968[1]) was an American neurologist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She specialized in the treatment of Ménière's disease, multiple sclerosis, and other neurological conditions. She also had multiple sclerosis for most of her adult career, and used a wheelchair and other adaptations to maintain a full schedule of teaching and research.

Madelaine Ray Brown
A young white woman, standing and smiling, wearing a white blouse, a dark cardigan or jacket, and a full skirt with a graphic pattern
Madelaine Ray Brown, from the 1920 yearbook of Bryn Mawr College
Born(1898-09-19)September 19, 1898
DiedJune 14, 1968(1968-06-14) (aged 69)
Education
Occupation(s)Neurologist, medical researcher

Early life and education

edit

Madelaine Ray Brown was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the daughter of Robert Perkins Brown and Elizabeth Graham Ray Brown.[1] She earned a bachelor's degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1920,[2] a master's degree from Brown University in 1923, and a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1927.[3][4]

Career

edit

Brown was a neurologist and medical researcher affiliated with Cushing Veterans Hospital, New England Hospital for Women and Children, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston City Hospital,[5] and Tufts Medical School.[4][6] She was president of the Boston Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.[7] She received an Elizabeth Blackwell Award from the New York Infirmary in 1954, for her "brilliant scientific work".[8] In 1957, she was honored as a Medical Woman of the Year by the American Medical Women's Association.[9] She was one of the founding members of the Muscular Dystrophy Research Foundation.[10]

Beyond her medical accomplishments, Brown collected antique pewter, especially pieces with Rhode Island origins, and was a charter member and treasurer of the Pewter Collectors' Club of America.[11] She loaned several items to a major exhibition of American pewter at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1939.[12]

Publications

edit

Brown published her research in scientific journals including the Science,[13] Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA),[6][14] Annals of Internal Medicine,[15] the Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology,[16] Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry,[17] Medical Clinics of North America,[18] and the New England Journal of Medicine.[19][20]

  • "The effect of removal of the sympathetic chains and of the coeliac ganglia on gastric acidity" (1933)[21]
  • "The Pathology of the Gastrointestinal Tract in Pernicious Anemia and Subacute Combined Degeneration of the Spinal Cord" (1934)[19]
  • "The Medical Treatment of Ménière's Syndrome" (1937)[6]
  • "Etiologic Study of Landry's Original Case of Acute Ascending Paralysis" (1938)[22]
  • "Remissions in Multiple Sclerosis" (1939, with Tracy J. Putnam)[17]
  • "Ménière's Syndrome: Acid-Base Constitutients of the Blood: Treatment with Potassium Chloride" (1940, with John H. Talbott)[23]
  • "Alcoholic Polyneuritis: An Evaluation of the Treatment at the Boston City Hospital from 1920 through 1938" (1941)[24][25]
  • "Muscular Paralysis and Electrocardiographic Abnormalities: Resulting from Potassium Loss in Chronic Nephritis" (1944, with James H. Currens and John F. Marchand)[14]
  • "The Role of Arsenic in the Production of Alcoholic Polyneuritis" (1947, with James Hastings)[13] "Paroxysmal Cerebral Dysrhythmia Following Large Doses of Potassium Chloride" (1948)[26]
  • "The Factor of Heredity in Labyrinthine Deafness and Paroxysmal Vertigo (Ménière's Syndrome)" (1949)[16]
  • "The Classification and treatment of Headache" (1951)[18]
  • "The Incidence and Heredity of Muscular Dystrophy — A Study of Seventy-One Patients Admitted to the Massachusetts General Hospital" (1951)[20]
  • "The Mechanism Involved in Polyneuritis as Exemplified by Postdiphtheric Polyneuritis" (1952)[15]

Personal life

edit

Brown had multiple sclerosis, diagnosed in the late 1920s. In the 1950s her health began to affect her ability to travel to professional conferences, though she continued to teach, see patients, and do research by using a wheelchair, "which has been her freedom from immobility since 1954", noted a 1957 profile. She also used an adapted telephone, and a hydraulic lift for positioning needs.[9] She died in a car accident in 1968.[1] She left her pewter collection to the Newport Historical Society and the Rhode Island Historical Society.[12][27]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c "Obituary for Madelaine R. Brown". The Boston Globe. June 17, 1968. p. 33. Retrieved March 9, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Bryn Mawr College (January 1, 1920). "Bryn Mawr College Yearbook. Class of 1920". Bryn Mawr College Yearbooks.
  3. ^ "Madelaine Ray Brown". New England Journal of Medicine. 279 (15): 833–834. October 10, 1968. doi:10.1056/NEJM196810102791514. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 4877640.
  4. ^ a b American Men of Science: A Biographical Directory. Bowker. 1949. p. 312.
  5. ^ "Visitor from New England Feted at Tea Event Today". Iowa City Press-Citizen. April 13, 1937. p. 7. Retrieved March 9, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c Brown, Madelaine R. (April 3, 1937). "The Medical Treatment of Ménière's Syndrome". Journal of the American Medical Association. 108 (14): 1158. doi:10.1001/jama.1937.02780140014004. ISSN 0002-9955.
  7. ^ Brown, Madelaine R. (July 1, 1947). "Boston Society of Psychiatry and Neurology". Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. 58 (1): 94. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1947.02300300104011. ISSN 0096-6754.
  8. ^ "Infirmary Honors 9 Women Doctors; Physicians Praised for 'Their Brilliant Scientific Work' at Ceremony in New Building". The New York Times. January 25, 1954. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  9. ^ a b Burns, Frances (November 15, 1957). "Dr. Brown, Sclerosis Invalid, Medical Woman of Year". The Boston Globe. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved March 9, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Parker, Tim (May 29, 1950). "Girls Spearhead Crusade". Lansing State Journal. p. 9. Retrieved March 9, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Winchester". The Boston Globe. February 13, 1936. p. 15. Retrieved March 9, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b Bowen, Richard L. Jr. (Spring 1996). "Charles Albert Calder, Forgotten Pioneer, and Madelaine Ray Brown, An Early Collector" (PDF). The Pewter Collector's Club of America. 11: 126–128.
  13. ^ a b Brown, Madelaine R.; Hastings, Janes L. (March 7, 1947). "The Role of Arsenic in the Production of Alcoholic Polyneuritis". Science. 105 (2723): 256–257. doi:10.1126/science.105.2723.256.a. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17769483. S2CID 239883251.
  14. ^ a b Brown, Madelaine R. (February 26, 1944). "Muscular Paralysis and Electrocardiographic Abnormalities: Resulting from Potassium Loss in Chronic Nephritis". Journal of the American Medical Association. 124 (9): 545. doi:10.1001/jama.1944.02850090001001. ISSN 0002-9955.
  15. ^ a b Brown, Madelaine Ray (March 1, 1952). "The mechanism involved in polyneuritis as exemplified by postdiphtheritic polyneuritis". Annals of Internal Medicine. 36 (3): 786–791. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-36-3-786. ISSN 0003-4819. PMID 14903782.
  16. ^ a b Brown, Madelaine R. (September 1949). "LXI The Factor of Heredity in Labyrinthine Deafness and Paroxysmal Vertigo (Ménière's Syndrome)". Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology. 58 (3): 665–670. doi:10.1177/000348944905800303. ISSN 0003-4894. PMID 15397195. S2CID 77235495.
  17. ^ a b Brown, Madelaine R. (May 1, 1939). "Remissions in Multiple Sclerosis". Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. 41 (5): 913. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1939.02270170051002. ISSN 0096-6754.
  18. ^ a b Ray Brown, Madelaine (September 1, 1951). "The Classification and Treatment of Headache". Medical Clinics of North America. 35 (5): 1485–1493. doi:10.1016/S0025-7125(16)35236-1. ISSN 0025-7125. PMID 14862569.
  19. ^ a b Brown, Madelaine R. (1934). "The Pathology of the Gastrointestinal Tract in Pernicious Anemia and Subacute Combined Degeneration of the Spinal Cord". New England Journal of Medicine. 210 (9): 473–477. doi:10.1056/NEJM193403012100903.
  20. ^ a b Brown, Madelaine Ray (January 18, 1951). "The Incidence and Heredity of Muscular Dystrophy". New England Journal of Medicine. 244 (3): 88–90. doi:10.1056/NEJM195101182440304. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 14796792.
  21. ^ Brown, Madelaine R. (July 31, 1933). "The effect of removal of the sympathetic chains and of the coeliac ganglia on gastric acidity". American Journal of Physiology. Legacy Content. 105 (2): 399–401. doi:10.1152/ajplegacy.1933.105.2.399. ISSN 0002-9513.
  22. ^ Brown, Madelaine R. (October 1, 1938). ""Etiologic Study of Landry's Original Case of Acute Ascending Paralysis"". Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. 40 (4): 800. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1938.02270100172011. ISSN 0096-6754.
  23. ^ Talbott, John H.; Brown, Madelaine R. (January 13, 1940). "Ménière's Syndrome: Acid-Base Constitutients of the Blood: Treatment with Potassium Chloride". Journal of the American Medical Association. 114 (2). doi:10.1001/jama.1940.02810020029006. ISSN 0002-9955.
  24. ^ Brown, Madelaine R. (April 12, 1941). "Alcoholic Polyneuritis: An Evaluation of the Treatment at the Boston City Hospital from 1920 through 1938". Journal of the American Medical Association. 116 (15): 1615. doi:10.1001/jama.1941.02820150005002. ISSN 0002-9955.
  25. ^ "Vitamin Doses Fail to Aid Alcoholics". The Morning Post. April 18, 1941. p. 26. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  26. ^ Brown, Madelaine R. (September 1, 1948). "Paroxysmal Cerebral Dysrhythmia Following Large Doses of Potassium Chloride". Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. 60 (3): 301. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1948.02310030082008. ISSN 0096-6754. PMID 18122894.
  27. ^ "Antique Pewter Willed to Historical Society". Newport Daily News. December 26, 1968. p. 32. Retrieved March 9, 2022 – via NewspaperArchive.com.