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Dr. Pauline Stitt was born in New York on May 28, 1909. Her father was Austin G. Stitt. Dr. Stitt contracted polio in her youth and was paralyzed from the waist down. She graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1933 and interned at the Buffalo City Hospital 1933-34.
Dr. Stitt first came to Hawaii in 1943 as a public health officer. She left in 1945 to join the U. S. Children's Bureau but returned in 1949 to serve as Director of Maternal and Child Health and Crippled Children services. She served in this position for six years.
Dr. Stitt taught and/or was a member of the faculties of Harvard University Medical School 1954-60, Boston University Medical School 1960-62 and Howard University Medical School where she was associate clinical professor of pediatrics. She then became chief of the Child Health Studies Branch of the Research Division of the U. S. Children's Branch.
Dr. Stitt returned to Hawaii in 1972 and was appointed professor of public health at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, and served as chairman of the maternal and child health care program from 1972 to 1974. She was appointed professor emeritus after her retirement in 1975.
In 1974 Dr. Stitt received a national award from the American Academy of Pediatrics for "outstanding community service to children through teaching, public service and innovation in patterns of patient care". When interviewed at the time of her retirement Dr. Stitt was quoted as saying the most meaningful part of her long career was "the times I worked with patients and could really see what they were up against. Patient care is so critical to keep everything real - not decimal points and statistical averages. It is so important to think in terms of real living people or real dead people. Not statistics". [From Honolulu Star-Bulletin article by Tomi Knaefler May 22, 1975].
Dr. Stitt enjoyed painting and in 1947 her works were featured in an art show at the Little Gallery in Honolulu.
Dr. Stitt died at Arcadia retirement home of a heart attack September 11, 1996 at the age of 87 years.
Medicine in Hawaii: Oral History Series
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