Mildred T. Stahlman papers

Mildred Thornton Stahlman was born on July 31, 1922 in Nashville, Tennessee. Her father, James Stahlman, was the sole owner of the Nashville Banner. Dr.Stahlman graduated from Vanderbilt in 1943 and Vanderbilt Medical School in 1946. She interned at Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland and completed her residency at Children's Hospital of Boston. She then studied at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and returned to Vanderbilt in 1951 as a pediatric cardiologist. In 1954 Dr. Elliot V. Newman invited her to work in Dr. Charles Rollo Park's lab with the goal of defining normal newborn lung function. Dr. Stahlman received a research grant for hyaline membrane disease in 1954, which was expanded in 1959 to develop a new nursery with modern equipment and a laboratory. This NICU opened in mid-1961 and became a model for newborn intensive care units as we know them today.

In 1973 Dr. Stahlman organized the Angel Transport System which resulted in the transport of premature babies from 30 Tennessee counties to Vanderbilt Hospital. Dr. Stahlman has trained over 80 post-doctoral fellows who have gone on to become professors and heads of departments. Dr. Stahlman has published over 200 articles and her research interests include basic lung cell physiology, hyaline membrane disease, surfactant, Vitamin A, neonatal pulmonary adaptation, fetal cardiopulmonary development, and growth factor hormone involvement in the lungs. Dr. Mildred Stahlman has received many awards and honors, including the Virginia Apgar Award, the Thomas Jefferson Award, the Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professorship, the Howland Award, and the Vanderbilt Distinguished Alumna Award. Dr. Stahlman has also been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Stahlman died in her home in Brentwood, Tennessee June 29, 2024.